The repertoire and timing of gestures accompanying speech were compared in children with specific language impairment (SLI), aged 5-10 years, in typically developing peers (CA), individually matched on age and nonverbal IQ, and in younger language-matched (LM) children. They were videotaped in two tasks, recounting a cartoon and describing their classroom. Three types of gestures were coded -iconics, deictics and beats -and the synchrony of these gestures with speech was examined in terms of number of words encompassed, grammatical speech category at gesture onset, and relationship of iconic gestures to the concept expressed in speech. All groups used more deictic gestures in the classroom description task. SLI children differed from the comparison children only in their use of iconic gestures. They produced somewhat more of these, used them more often to replace words, and began them more often on a noun phrase object. Otherwise, language proficiency, at least as measured by standardized tests, did not appear to impact the gestural system. The fact that, for all groups, most iconic and deictic gestures began on the noun phrase subject indicates a close synchrony between gesture and speech onset.
Abstract:The relations in early adolescence among out-of-school-time activities and indicators of youth development were assessed through the use of 8th grade data from the longitudinal, 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions indicated that "hanging out" with friends without set plans and excessive media use were associated with lower behavioral engagement with school, lower academic achievement, and higher rates of risk behaviors. Youth who ate dinner with their family reported higher levels of emotional engagement, lower depression and risk behaviors, and better grades. Engagement in civic activities was associated with higher levels of emotional engagement. Behavioral and emotional engagement were both associated with better grades and lower depression. Emotional school engagement was also associated with lower rates of risk behaviors. Implications of the findings for evaluating the role of out-ofschool-time activities and behavioral and/or emotional school engagement in academic achievement and youth development are discussed.
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