Movement as the first sentence.

This week.

My son was a late talker. At two, he had fewer words than his peers. At three, he was building elaborate structures from cardboard and string that would have required a detailed brief if I'd tried to describe them in advance. His body was saying everything his words couldn't yet say. I didn't understand this at the time. I was worried about the words. I should have been paying attention to the structures.

Movement is the first language. Before syntax, before vocabulary, before the cultural overlay of spoken or written communication, the human body develops a sophisticated capacity for expressing and reading intention, emotion, and meaning through movement. The infant who reaches toward something, turns away from something, goes rigid with resistance or liquid with relief — these are not pre-linguistic. They are linguistic. They are just in a different medium.

Children who have abundant opportunity for physical movement — who are allowed and encouraged to run, climb, throw, lift, carry, roll, hang upside down — develop something more than physical fitness. They develop a more complete vocabulary for expressing internal states. His body was saying everything his words couldn't yet say. I didn't understand this at the time. I was worried about the words. I should have been paying attention to the structures.