Narrating about the Growth of Children with Developmental Challenges in Time as Language:

Polyphony as “Equivalency of time”

Abstract

The present study, involving a mother who is attending a school for children with special needs, examined the process in which she learns methods for understanding the growth of her child, and suggested concepts that are necessary to recognize the growth of a child as narratives. The mother described the growth of her child in terms of several different language of time. (1) Some narratives were spoken individually and the different sequences of time did not interact with each other, and (2) the different sequences of time conflicted with each other. (3) The different time sequences interacted with each other. After describing the development of her child in terms of different sequences of time, she learned that “any sequence of time is equally worth being selected,” which was called the “equivalency of time”. The “equivalency of time” is a concept used to understand the child development as narratives. Understanding the growth of children based on “equivalency of time” helps parents learn that their narratives improve their recognition of the growth of their children, and that views regarding their growth are developed through interactions.