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Updated: May 31, 2025

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

Published on: January 26, 2024

Examining Concurrent Associations Between Gesture Use, Developmental Domains, and Autistic Traits in Toddlers With

Chelsea La Valle^1,2, Gabriela Davila Mejia³, Carol L Wilkinson³

¹Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, MA.

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR

|January 22, 2025

Abstract

Purpose:

Toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) showcase comparable or higher rates of gestures than chronological age- and language-matched toddlers without DS. Little is known about how gesture use in toddlers with DS relates to multiple domains of development, including motor, pragmatics, language, and visual reception (VR) skills. Unexplored is whether gesture use is a good marker of social communication skills in DS or if gesture development might be more reliably a marker of motor, language, pragmatics, or VR skills. This study examined the concurrent association of gesture use on other areas of development and investigated the association of autistic traits with gesture use in toddlers with DS.

Method:

Thirty toddlers with DS (15 females; M = 26.12 months, SD = 6.42 months) completed the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2). Parents completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Words and Gestures form and the Language Use Inventory (LUI; pragmatic language) about their child.

Results:

Controlling for child chronological age and sex, total gestures was strongly positively associated with the LUI total score (pragmatic language) and MSEL language (receptive, expressive) raw scores, moderately positively associated with motor (fine, gross) raw scores, but not significantly associated with VR raw scores. Higher ADOS social affect (SA) calibrated severity scores was strongly negatively associated with total gestures but not significantly associated with restricted and repetitive behaviors.

Conclusions:

Gestures track together with language, pragmatics, and motor skills. Higher ADOS SA calibrated severity scores were associated with fewer gestures in toddlers with DS. Clinicians can consider each child's developmental profile (e.g., motor, pragmatics, language, social communication skills) to better understand their gesture development.

Supplemental Material:

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28169186.

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