Gestures accompanying speech in specifically language-impaired children and their timing with speech

Abstract

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.

Gesture production and comprehension in children with specific language impairment

“…For example, young children sometimes achieve more complex communicative ‘utterances’ first by using a ‘speech+gesture’ strategy (e.g. mummy+ball gesture to indicate ‘mummy give me the ball’) and this has also been shown to be the case in gestures accompanying speech in children with SLI (Blake, Myszczyszyn, Jokel, & Bebiroglu, 2008). But by 28 months children prefer verbal to gestural expression, expecting a spoken label to reference objects and their categories (Namy & Waxman, 1998).…”

Gesture–speech integration in children with specific language impairment

“…Both Blake et al . () and Iverson and Braddock (), who examined gestures produced in narrative tasks, observed that children with SLI produced more representational gestures in the absence of words than did their TD peers. However, Iverson and Braddock did not find significant group differences in gestures that provided additional or disambiguating content.…”

“…In another study Blake et al . () asked participants to perform cartoon retell and classroom description tasks. A majority of the observed gestures were representational, but there was no significant difference in the frequency of representational gestures produced by children with SLI and their TD peers.…”

“…Very few representational gestures, or ges-tures that act out or depict the meaning of speech (e.g., moving the hand in small circles with the words 'he spun around'), were observed in this study. In another study Blake et al (2008) asked participants to perform cartoon retell and classroom description tasks. A majority of the observed gestures were representational, but there was no significant difference in the frequency of representational gestures produced by children with SLI and their TD peers.…”

“…These studies are based on the idea that expressive language deficits in children with SLI may lead them to rely more on non-redundant speech-gesture patterns, relative to their TD peers. Both Blake et al (2008) and Iverson and Braddock (2011), who examined gestures produced in narrative tasks, observed that children with SLI produced more representational gestures in the absence of words than did their TD peers. However, Iverson and Braddock did not find significant group differences in gestures that provided additional or disambiguating content.…”