Identifying Patterns of Similarities and Differences between Gesture Production and Comprehension in Autism and Typical Development

Production and comprehension of gesture emerge early and are key to subsequent language development in typical development. Compared to typically developing (TD) children, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit difficulties and/or differences in gesture production. However, we do not yet know if gesture production either shows similar patterns to gesture comprehension across different ages and learners, or alternatively, lags behind gesture comprehension, thus mimicking a pattern akin to speech comprehension and production. In this study, we focus on the gestures produced and comprehended by a group of young TD children and children with ASD-comparable in language ability-with the goal to identify whether gesture production and comprehension follow similar patterns between ages and between learners. We elicited production of gesture in a semi-structured parent-child play and comprehension of gesture in a structured experimenter-child play across two studies. We tested whether young TD children (ages 2-4) follow a similar trajectory in their production and comprehension of gesture (Study 1) across ages, and if so, whether this alignment remains similar for verbal children with ASD (M-age = 5 years), comparable to TD children in language ability (Study 2). Our results provided evidence for similarities between gesture production and comprehension across ages and across learners, suggesting that comprehension and production of gesture form a largely integrated system of communication.

Automated summary

The ability to produce and comprehend gestures is crucial for language development in typical children. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often struggle with gesture production compared to typically developing (TD) children. This study aimed to investigate whether gesture production and comprehension follow similar patterns across ages and learners. The results suggest that there are similarities in gesture production and comprehension across different ages and between TD children and verbal children with ASD, indicating an integrated communication system formed by gesture production and comprehension.