Deictic Gesture Production in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, and Typically Developing Children During Dyadic Interaction

Abstract

Background: Deictic gestures are the first intentional form of communication that predict the emergence of first words. Deictic gestures include reaching, pointing, giving, and showing. Method: Forty-five Tamil-speaking children (28 male and 17 female) and their parents participated in this study. They were divided into three groups (ASD, DS, and TD). The parents were instructed to play and interact with their children, as they do at home, using the provided toy set, and this session was video-recorded. Deictic gestures such as reaching, pointing, giving, and showing were analyzed with a specific coding scheme. Results: On a Kruskal–Wallis test, a statistically significant difference across the three groups (P