Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction alongside restrictive and repetitive behaviors or interests. ASD is sometimes accompanied by intellectual impairment.
These core symptoms manifest differently among individuals, ranging from mild to severe. The disorder's complexity extends beyond its clinical presentation, encompassing a diverse range of biological, cognitive, and sociocultural influences.

Language Development

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A 24-Year-Old Male Adult With a Severe Intellectual Developmental Disorder and Intractable Challenging Behaviors: A Case Report.

Case reports in psychiatry·2026

Same author

Associations Between Second-Language Proficiency and Executive Functions in Autistic and Neurotypical Children.

Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science·2026

Same author

The effect of language proficiency on theory of mind: A longitudinal study of bilingual autistic and neurotypical children.

Child development·2026

Same author

Correction: Children's Improvement After Language and Rhythm Training With the Digital Medical Device Poppins for Dyslexia: Single-Arm Intervention Study.

JMIR serious games·2026

Same author

Bilingualism Enhances Metalinguistic Awareness in Autism: Extending the Two-Dimensional Grammaticality Judgment Task.

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research·2025

Same author

Children With ASD Do Not Understand Hidden Emotions Before False Belief Attribution.

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2025

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Published on: October 3, 2018

Co-speech gesture comprehension in autistic children.

Pauline Wolfer¹, Franziska Baumeister¹, David Cohen^2,3

¹Autism, Bilingualism, Cognitive and Communicative Development Research Group (ABCCD), Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Journal of Child Language

|April 14, 2025

Summary

Autistic children understand spoken words paired with gestures well, similar to neurotypical peers. This suggests sequential speech and gesture processing is a potential communication aid for autistic individuals.

Keywords:

autism spectrum disorder co-speech gestures gesture comprehension gesture recognition non-verbal communication

More Related Videos

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Published on: December 14, 2012

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

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 13, 2025

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Published on: October 3, 2018

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism

Published on: December 14, 2012

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

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Communication Sciences

Background:

Co-speech gestures are integral to human communication, complementing spoken language.
Research on gesture comprehension in autistic children is limited, often focusing on isolated, iconic gestures.
Understanding various gesture types (deictic, iconic, conventional) is crucial for effective communication.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare gesture comprehension abilities between autistic and neurotypical children.
To investigate the influence of linguistic and cognitive factors on gesture understanding in autism.
To explore potential mechanisms underlying gesture processing in autism.

Main Methods:

Compared 73 autistic children (3-12 years) with 73 matched neurotypical peers on gesture comprehension tasks.
Assessed understanding of deictic, iconic, and conventional gestures presented sequentially after verbal narration.
Analyzed the impact of vocabulary, morphosyntax, and working memory on performance.

Main Results:

Autistic children demonstrated strong overall performance in understanding gestures.
A minor, yet significant, comprehension advantage was noted in neurotypical children.
Sequential processing of speech and gesture showed good performance in autistic children.

Conclusions:

The sequential integration of speech and gesture appears to be a relatively preserved skill in autism.
This finding suggests that presenting information sequentially with gestures may reduce cognitive load for autistic individuals.
Further research can explore using sequential speech-gesture combinations to support communication in autism.