Goldin-Meadow Susan
University of Chicago.
Perspect Lang Learn Educ. 2015 Mar;22(2):50-60. doi: 10.1044/lle22.2.50.
Speakers around the globe gesture when they talk, and young children are no exception. In fact, children's first foray into communication tends to be through their hands rather than their mouths. There is now good evidence that children typically express ideas in gesture before they express the same ideas in speech. Moreover, the age at which these ideas are expressed in gesture predicts the age at which the same ideas are first expressed in speech. Gesture thus not only precedes, but also predicts, the onset of linguistic milestones. These facts set the stage for using gesture in two ways in children who are at risk for language delay. First, gesture can be used to identify individuals who are not producing gesture in a timely fashion, and can thus serve as a diagnostic tool for pinpointing subsequent difficulties with spoken language. Second, gesture can facilitate learning, including word learning, and can thus serve as a tool for intervention, one that can be implemented even before a delay in spoken language is detected.
全球各地的人说话时都会做手势，幼儿也不例外。事实上，儿童最初尝试交流往往是通过手而不是嘴。现在有充分的证据表明，儿童通常在能用言语表达相同想法之前，就会用手势来表达想法。此外，这些想法用手势表达的年龄预示着它们首次用言语表达的年龄。因此，手势不仅先于语言里程碑的出现，还能预测其出现。这些事实为在有语言发育迟缓风险的儿童中以两种方式使用手势奠定了基础。首先，手势可用于识别那些没有及时做出手势的个体，从而作为一种诊断工具，以查明随后在口语方面的困难。其次，手势可以促进学习，包括单词学习，因此可以作为一种干预工具，甚至在检测到口语延迟之前就可以实施。
