Characteristics of iconic gesture comprehension and production in late-talkers

Abstract

Objectives: Gestures have received attention as a useful means of assessment and reinforcement for prelinguistic children's communicative competence. In the present study, we investigated late-talkers' comprehension and production of iconic gestures. Methods: Fifteen Korean late-talkers (LT) from 24 to 35 months and fifteen typically developing peers (TD) participated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, a researcher visited the house of selected subjects and gestures were measured during 10 minutes of interactive play with the researcher. The tools used in the play were the symbolic play probes in Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 2003). In Experiment 2, all children were tested for comprehension and production of iconic gestures. Results: In Experiment 1, LT had lower production of iconic gestures than TD did. But the production of iconic gestures was not significantly different. In Experiment 2, comprehension and production of iconic gestures was significantly different between the LT and TD. LT had a lower performance on comprehension and production of gestures, and the production of iconic gestures was significantly different according to type (shape, action, agent's action). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that LT of 2 years old had difficulty in understanding referents' meaning and in the retrieval of iconic gestures compared to TD. This means that intervention studies for LT's iconic gesture acquisition are needed.