Beyond Words with Garrett Oyama

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In this Beyond Words solo episode, I try and break down Michael Tomasello’s usage-based account of language development and the idea that grammar may be less like a rulebook and more like a collection of cultural tools that children learn through interacting with other people.

Tomasello’s answer brings together intention reading, pattern finding, linguistic constructions, joint attention, and joint agency. We look at why constructions themselves carry meaning, how children discover roles within utterances, and how the roles and perspectives involved in human cooperation may provide part of the cognitive foundation for grammar.

This video builds on my recent Beyond Words conversation with Michael Tomasello: https://youtu.be/H0En9S8NmSk?si=dNnZ3nD3ZjDFVJzM

📚 References

Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition. Harvard University Press.

Tomasello, M. (2024). Agency and Cognitive Development. Oxford University Press.

Tomasello, M., & Barton, M. E. (1994). Learning words in nonostensive contexts. Developmental Psychology, 30(5), 639–650.

Beyond Words explores the science of language, communication, cognition, and development through conversations with leading researchers and clinicians. Reach out if you'd like to join the community! https://forms.gle/YS7bbZjLNXD3dFTK9

Beyond Words Ep. 28 | Learning the Invisible: How Children Learn Emotion Words with Nikhita Prabhu, MA

In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, and UCLA developmental psychology researcher Nikhita Prabhu, MA, examine how children learn emotion words and other abstract concepts. How does a child learn what “jealous” means? Unlike a word like “dog,” there isn’t one thing a caregiver can simply point to. Learning emotion words requires children to connect language with facial expressions, behaviors, situations, bodily experiences, causes, and other information that may not be directly observable.

Join the Beyond Words Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/d83ab68ea1db/slp-signup

Get ASHA CEUs: Speech Therapy PD - https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/learning-the-invisible

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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In the first episode of the sub-series Beyond Words: In Practice, Garrett talks with speech-language pathologist, speech scientist, and AI developer Matthew Guggemos about what AI should—and shouldn’t—do in speech-language pathology.

They explore AI-supported assessment and documentation, privacy and ethics, the importance of keeping clinicians in the loop, and the risks of outsourcing too much of our thinking to technology. Matthew also shares how tools like EASI are being designed to reduce paperwork and administrative burden while preserving human clinical judgment.

Links:

Get ASHA CEUs: https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/ai-in-speech-pathology

Previous conversation with Matthew on music-based speech interventions: https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/rhythms-of-speech-unveiling-the-melodic-bridge-between-music

Check out EASI (Matthew's AI speech evaluation system): https://easi-as.com/

Check out Inner Voice: https://www.innervoiceapp.com/

Contact Matthew here: https://www.drumlanguage.com/

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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Beyond Words Ep. 27 | Self-Control and Motivation: Helping Children Work Toward Goals with Kentaro Fujita, PhD

Why do some children struggle to follow through on goals they genuinely want to achieve?

In this episode of the Beyond Words podcast, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by Kentaro Fujita, PhD, social psychologist and expert in self-control and motivation, to examine the science of goal pursuit and what it means for speech-language pathologists working with children. The discussion examines why self-control is more than willpower, highlighting how children's thinking about a goal can influence their ability to stay motivated.

Dr. Fujita explains construal level theory, psychological distancing, strategies for managing temptation, and practical ways to help children stay focused on meaningful long-term goals. He also discusses why shifting attention from the "how" to the "why" of a task can sometimes strengthen motivation when engagement begins to fade.

Join the Beyond Words Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/d83ab68ea1db/slp-signup

Subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettBeyondWords

Get ASHA CEUs: Speech Therapy PD - https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/self-control-and-motivation

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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Beyond Words Ep. 26 | Agency, Joint Attention, and How Children Construct Language with Dr. Michael Tomasello

In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama speaks with Dr. Michael Tomasello, one of the world’s leading developmental psychologists, about how agency, cooperation, and shared intentionality shape human cognition and language.

Drawing from his recent book Agency and Cognitive Development, Dr. Tomasello describes how children move through different forms of agency—from pursuing simple goals, to imagining alternative possibilities, to reflecting on their own beliefs and decisions. They explore why a child’s goals fundamentally shape what they attend to and learn, and what this perspective might change about developmental science and speech-language intervention.

The conversation then turns to what Tomasello sees as a defining feature of human cognition: our ability to form a shared “we.” They discuss joint attention, collaboration, roles and perspectives, language as a cultural tool, and the surprising connection between collaborative activities and grammatical constructions. They also consider autism and shared intentionality, child-led intervention, the limitations of behaviorism and reinforcement-based approaches, and how collaborative activities might scaffold communication.

Finally, they discuss words as tools rather than static meanings, Vygotsky and cultural learning, artificial intelligence versus artificial agency, and why Tomasello believes the “mind as computer” metaphor has led cognitive science in the wrong direction.

Grab a copy of Agency and Cognitive Development - https://academic.oup.com/book/58002

Grab a copy of Constructing a Language - https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674017641

Join the Beyond Words Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/d83ab68ea1db/slp-signup

Get ASHA CEUs: Speech Therapy PD - https://www.speechtherapypd.com/ Watch on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettBeyondWords

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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Beyond Words Ep. 25 | How Children Learn Words: Input, Context, and Generalization

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In this episode of Beyond Words, Garrett Oyama speaks with Dr. Catherine Sandhofer, professor of psychology at UCLA, about how children learn words, categories, and concepts through everyday experience.

They explore why word learning is not just about hearing words more often, but about when, where, and from whom children hear them. Dr. Sandhofer discusses how contextual variation, caregiver input, repeated routines, and shared book reading shape vocabulary growth and why children may need both consistency and variability at different points in development. They also discuss nouns and verbs in early language input, the role of forgetting and reactivation in learning, how screen-based language differs from human interaction, and what these findings might mean for speech therapy, parenting, AAC, and clinical practice.

Learn more about Dr. Catherine Sandhofer’s work - https://www.psych.ucla.edu/faculty-page/csandhof/

Subscribe on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettBeyondWords

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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Beyond Words Ep. 24 | Gaze, Hands, and the Roots of Communication with Gedeon Deák, PhD

In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by UC San Diego professor Gedeon Deák, PhD, to explore how infants learn to share attention with others and why these early interactions are so important for communication and language development. Together, they unpack the evolving nature of joint attention, including gaze following, pointing, caregiver scaffolding, and the often-overlooked role of hands, movement, and object interaction in early learning.

Drawing from Dr. Deák’s research, this conversation challenges the idea of joint attention as a single developmental milestone. Instead, it highlights how infants gradually learn to coordinate attention through repeated, real-world interactions with caregivers, objects, and their environment. The discussion explores how babies learn to follow attention not simply by watching eyes, but through meaningful experiences that involve looking, reaching, pointing, and shared engagement with objects and routines.

🎙️ Topics include:

• a deeper understanding of how gesture, gaze, and movement
• support early communication development
• valuable perspectives for assessing and supporting young children
• social communication and language delays

Earn ASHA CEUs - https://www.speechtherapypd.com/courses/gaze-hands

Beyond Words Ep. 23 | Music, Voice, and Meaning: From Infant Speech to Social Signals with Greg Bryant, PhD

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In this episode of Beyond Words, Greg Bryant, PhD, joins host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, to explore how the human voice carries meaning through prosody, musicality, and nonverbal vocalizations.

Together, they examine how infant-directed speech uses exaggerated pitch, rhythm, and timing to capture attention and support early learning, and how these same acoustic patterns overlap with features found in music. Dr. Bryant connects infant communication, emotional vocal expression, and music within an evolutionary framework, highlighting how vocal behavior supports social bonding, coordination, and shared understanding.

🎙️ Topics include:

• How listeners interpret emotion, intention
• Social context from vocal cues alone
• Cross-cultural research
• Highlighting how vocal behavior supports social bonding
• Prosody, pragmatics, and culturally responsive care

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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Beyond Words Ep. 22 | Active Infant Learning: Curiosity and How Children Seek Words with Martin Zettersten, PhD

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In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, welcomes Martin Zettersten, PhD, to explore how infants actively learn language through curiosity, attention, and everyday experiences. Dr. Zettersten shares insights from his work as Principal Investigator of the Language and Infant Learning (LIL) Lab at the University of California, San Diego, highlighting how children seek out and process information as they begin to build their early vocabularies.

Together, they break down how attention and learning interact in early word learning, and what that means for how infants begin to connect words with meaning.

🎙️ Topics include:

• How infants and children learn language
• Large collaborative projects and shared datasets
• Improve confidence in infant development findings
• Developmental evidence to inform the caregiver
• Guidance and early language support

Resources:

Agency and Cognitive Development (Oxford Series in Cognitive Development) by Michael Tomasello

Mentioned in this episode:

Beyond Words SLP Salon

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