Does autism affect gesturing during parent-child interactions in the early school years?

Abstract

BackgroundYoung children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to differ from typically developing (TD) children in their production of gesture, as well as the relationship between gesture and the content of their speech. In this study, we asked whether older children with ASD continue to differ from TD children in the types of gestures and gesture-speech combinations that they produce, and whether these differences reflect differences in parental gesture input. MethodOur study examined the gestures and speech produced by 39 early school-age children (17 with ASD, 14 boys; Mage = 7;2, and 22 with TD, 13 boys; Mage = 5;4), comparable in expressive vocabulary, and their parents, during a 10-minute play interaction. Gestures were coded for total amount, gesture type (deictic, conventional, or iconic), and gesture-speech relationship (complementary, disambiguating, or supplementary). ResultsChildren with ASD were similar to TD children in the amount and types of gestures that they produced, but differed in their gesture-speech combinations, using gesture primarily to complement their speech. Parents did not show any group differences in their production of different types of gestures and gesture-speech combinations. There were no correlations between parent and child gesture patterns. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that differences in children’s gesture use may reflect the child’s own communicative intentions rather than parental input. These finding have important implications in understanding how older children with ASD use gesture in everyday interactive contexts, which can inform intervention or school-based practices to support learning.