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Gesture production and language delay: A helping hand
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GESTURE PRODUCTION AND LANGUAGE DELAY: A HELPING HAND Donna Thal, Catherine Brown, Mindy Granberry, and Michelle Monson San Diego State University, Department of Communicative Disorders, Developmental Psycholinguistics Laboratory, 6330 Alvarado Court, Suite 23 1, San Diego, CA 92 120 Use of communicative gestures was examined in 14 toddlers with specific expressive language delay. Total number of gestures produced, whether gestures were symbolic or nonsymbolic, and whether they were used to complement or add information to words produced, were analyzed at two data points six months apart. Language delayed toddlers produced more communicative gestures than language-matched controls at the first data point. At the six-month follow-up they had normal expressive vocabulary and did not use more communicative gestures than language-matched controls. Results suggest that communicative gesture production serves a positive and useful purpose for language delayed toddlers.
GESTURE PRODUCTION AND LANGUAGE DELAY: A HELPING HAND Donna Thal, Catherine Brown, Mindy Granberry, and Michelle Monson San Diego State University, Department of Communicative Disorders, Developmental Psycholinguistics Laboratory, 6330 Alvarado Court, Suite 23 1, San Diego, CA 92 120 Use of communicative gestures was examined in 14 toddlers with specific expressive language delay. Total number of gestures produced, whether gestures were symbolic or nonsymbolic, and whether they were used to complement or add information to words produced, were analyzed at two data points six months apart. Language delayed toddlers produced more communicative gestures than language-matched controls at the first data point. At the six-month follow-up they had normal expressive vocabulary and did not use more communicative gestures than language-matched controls. Results suggest that communicative gesture production serves a positive and useful purpose for language delayed toddlers.