Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) produce fewer deictic gestures, accompanied by delays/deviations in speech development, compared to typically-developing (TD) children. We ask whether children with ASD—like TD children—show right-hand preference in gesturing and whether right-handed gestures predict their vocabulary size in speech. Our analysis of handedness in gesturing in children with ASD (n = 23, Mage = 30-months) and with TD (n = 23, Mage = 18-months) during mother–child play showed a right-hand preference for TD children—but not for children with ASD. Nonetheless, right-handed deictic gestures predicted expressive vocabulary 1 year later in both children with ASD and with TD. Handedness for gesture, both hand preference and amount of right-handed pointing, may be an important indicator of language development in autism and typical development.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by grants by Swiss National Science Foundation (PBLAP1_142782, PI: Dimitrova), National Science Foundation (BCS 1251337, PI: Özçalışkan), and National Institutes of Health (R01 HD035612, PI: Adamson). We thank the participating families for their dedication to our research efforts. We also thank Lauren Schmuck and Jhonelle Bailey for their help in coding the data. Findings were presented at the 6th North Sea Laterality Meeting 2018 in Dundee (Scotland).
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All authors participated in the conception and design of the study, in the interpretation of the findings, and in the drafting of the manuscript. In addition, ND compiled the data and performed the statistical analysis, SO supervised the coding of child gestures, and LBA supervised the use of the archive of video records and verbal transcripts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Dimitrova, N., Mohr, C., Özçalışkan, Ş. et al. Early Lateralization of Gestures in Autism: Right-Handed Points Predict Expressive Language. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 1147–1158 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04347-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04347-9