Özçalişkan Şeyda, Adamson Lauren B, Dimitrova Nevena, Bailey Jhonelle, Schmuck Lauren
Georgia State University.
J Child Lang. 2016 Jul;43(4):948-63. doi: 10.1017/S030500091500029X. Epub 2015 Jun 22.
Early spontaneous gesture, specifically deictic gesture, predicts subsequent vocabulary development in typically developing (TD) children. Here, we ask whether deictic gesture plays a similar role in predicting later vocabulary size in children with Down Syndrome (DS), who have been shown to have difficulties in speech production, but strengths in spontaneous gesture and baby sign use. We compared the gestures and baby signs produced by twenty-three children with DS (Mage = 2;6) and twenty-three TD children (Mage = 1;6), in relation to their expressive spoken vocabulary size one year later. Children with DS showed significant deficits in gesture production, particularly for deictic gestures, but strengths in baby sign production, compared to their typically developing peers. More importantly, it was the baby signs produced by children with DS, but not deictic gestures, that predicted their spoken vocabulary size one year later. Our results further highlight the important role baby signs can play in language development in children with developmental disorders.
早期自发手势，特别是指示性手势，能够预测正常发育（TD）儿童随后的词汇发展。在此，我们探讨指示性手势在预测唐氏综合征（DS）儿童后期词汇量方面是否发挥类似作用。已有研究表明，唐氏综合征儿童在言语表达方面存在困难，但在自发手势和婴儿手语使用方面表现较强。我们比较了23名唐氏综合征儿童（平均年龄 = 2岁6个月）和23名正常发育儿童（平均年龄 = 1岁6个月）所做出的手势和婴儿手语，并将其与一年后的口语表达词汇量进行关联分析。与正常发育的同龄人相比，唐氏综合征儿童在手势表达上存在显著缺陷，尤其是指示性手势，但在婴儿手语表达方面表现较强。更重要的是，预测唐氏综合征儿童一年后口语词汇量的是他们所做出的婴儿手语，而非指示性手势。我们的研究结果进一步凸显了婴儿手语在发育障碍儿童语言发展中所起的重要作用。
