The use of gestures as a compensatory strategy in adults with acquired aphasia compared to children with specific language impairment (SLI)

Abstract

Gestures used in a confrontation naming task by four severely aphasic patients, two nonfluent, two fluent and four controls, were categorized according to Ekman and Friesen (1969). The findings were compared to an earlier study of gestures used by SLI children. There were similarities between the two language-impaired groups in how to compensate for the missing access to the word by using gestures as pragmatic cues.