Gestures: body part movement (face and upper limbs mostly) that contain signals associated with active, conscious communication.Sighted children learn the body language of their culture. They also learn how to fidget in the same way as the older generation. Blind children cannot read body language and they do not witness the nervous overflow of the adult population. Many children in special education, most notably the blind children, display inappropriate movement patterns.
A mannerism is a movement of the body, or some part of the body, that is socially inappropriate. A mannerism contains movement, but no body language that is readable by a culture. A mannerism is also similar to fidgeting, but fidgeting, like body language, is culturally determined. It is OK in our culture to swing a leg back and forth while sitting and waiting, but it is not acceptable to rock back and forth with the whole upper trunk.
It is our responsibility as teachers to tell our blind students about the non-verbal world of body language, and the non-verbal world of motor overflow. Blind children have to learn a second language. They will not absorb the world of body communication unless we demonstrate how to send appropriate signals under specific social circumstances. We must also show them how to fidget in harmony with the rest of us nervous creatures.
Body rocking may also be an attempt to get vestibular stimulation. Blind children usually don't get enough exercise. Many of them may need extra whole body movement. Mannerisms could be reduced by swinging, sliding, rocking in a rocking chair, and other gross motor activities.
All human beings rock back and forth. This micro wobble is not visible. But if we try to stand perfectly still, we sway, and there is a shift of gravity as different parts of our feet carry the pressure of our bodies. It is a logical deduction to assume that this micro wobble becomes a visible rocking in blind children. This is because vision stabilizes the body in space. Close your eyes while trying to stand still and the task gets harder. In some disease states, where the vestibular system is damaged, only vision keeps a body "steady." If these people with vestibular damage close their eyes they fall down. So the rocking motion of many blind children may be related to a normal phenomenon. In my experience, where children have strong vestibular abilities, they seem to be able to override the rocking consciously. Blind children who have vestibular problems (balance and postural difficulties) tend to rock more often.
Posture: full body, non-animated positions that contain non-verbal, often unconscious culturally determined signals; including stance, lean, angle of presenting body, and psychological space
Gestures: body part movement (face and upper limbs mostly) that contain signals associated with active, conscious communication.
Fidgeting: motor overflow. Socially acceptable movements that contain (or are meant to contain) no communication. Fidgeting (and gestures) have a rhythm; the speed and intensity of the movements signal the depth of emotion (perhaps related to body rhythms) (how?)
Mannerisms: postures, gestures, and fidgeting; movements that are not socially normal; movements that contain no visual message or that display unusual patterns of motor overflow (rocking, head bobbing, unusual facial expressions, lack of facial affect, etc.)
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