{"title":"The Development of Gesture Skills in Chinese Autistic Children: The Predictive Roles of Age and Language Ability.","authors":"Xin Zhang, Xue-Ke Song, Wing-Chee So","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00241","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Gesture delay in autistic infants and toddlers has been widely reported. The developmental trajectory of gesture production during early childhood is understudied. Thus, little is known about the possible changes of gesture production over time. The present study aimed to document the development of gesture production in autistic children and examine whether child-based factors (chronological age and initial language skills) predicted gesture development.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 33 Chinese-speaking autistic children (<i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 56.39 months, <i>SD</i> = 8.54 months) played with their parents at four time points over a 9-month period. Their speech was transcribed, and their gestures were coded from parent-child interaction. Multilevel modeling analysis was used to investigate the development of gesture and its associated factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The total number of gestures produced by autistic children decreased over time. Among different factors, children's initial age significantly and negatively predicted children's gesture production, while initial language positively predicted children's gesture production.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Gesture delay persists in preschool age. The decline in gesture production was associated with children's age and initial language ability. These findings shed light on the difficulties surrounding gesture use in autistic children.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00241","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/7/22 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Gesture delay in autistic infants and toddlers has been widely reported. The developmental trajectory of gesture production during early childhood is understudied. Thus, little is known about the possible changes of gesture production over time. The present study aimed to document the development of gesture production in autistic children and examine whether child-based factors (chronological age and initial language skills) predicted gesture development.
Method: A total of 33 Chinese-speaking autistic children (Mage = 56.39 months, SD = 8.54 months) played with their parents at four time points over a 9-month period. Their speech was transcribed, and their gestures were coded from parent-child interaction. Multilevel modeling analysis was used to investigate the development of gesture and its associated factors.
Results: The total number of gestures produced by autistic children decreased over time. Among different factors, children's initial age significantly and negatively predicted children's gesture production, while initial language positively predicted children's gesture production.
Conclusions: Gesture delay persists in preschool age. The decline in gesture production was associated with children's age and initial language ability. These findings shed light on the difficulties surrounding gesture use in autistic children.
期刊介绍:
Mission: JSLHR publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles on the normal and disordered processes in speech, language, hearing, and related areas such as cognition, oral-motor function, and swallowing. The journal is an international outlet for both basic research on communication processes and clinical research pertaining to screening, diagnosis, and management of communication disorders as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. JSLHR seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work.
Scope: The broad field of communication sciences and disorders, including speech production and perception; anatomy and physiology of speech and voice; genetics, biomechanics, and other basic sciences pertaining to human communication; mastication and swallowing; speech disorders; voice disorders; development of speech, language, or hearing in children; normal language processes; language disorders; disorders of hearing and balance; psychoacoustics; and anatomy and physiology of hearing.