Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gesture Production in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate delayed and atypical communication development. These deficits constitute a core criterion for the diagnosis of ASD, though information regarding gestural communication in toddlers with ASD remains limited. The present investigation implemented a robust gesture classification system in order to obtain quantitative measures of gesture production in a cohort of toddlers with ASD (n = 40) and controls (n = 40) during 10-min, play-based interactions with caregivers. Children with ASD produced fewer overall gestures and gesture subtypes compared to controls. The ASD group also displayed atypical patterns of gesture production. These findings highlight the need for evidence-based screening, assessment, and intervention protocols pertaining to gestural communication in toddlers with ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

  • Aureli, T., Spinelli, M., Fasolo, M., Garito, M. C., Perucchini, P., & D'Odorico, L. (2017). The pointing–vocal coupling progression in the first half of the second year of life. Infancy, 22(6), 801–818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, S. D., Özçalışkan, Ş., & Adamson, L. B. (2019). Does autism affect gesturing during parent-child interactions in the early school years? Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 67, 101440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bondy, A., Frost, L. (2011). A picture's worth: PECS and other visual communication strategies in autism. Woodbine House.

  • Braddock, B. A., Gabany, C., Shah, M., Armbrecht, E. S., & Twyman, K. A. (2016). Patterns of gesture use in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. American journal of speech-language pathology, 25(3), 408–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many participants do we have to include in properly powered experiments? A tutorial of power analysis with reference tables. Journal of cognition, 2(1).

  • Carpenter, M., & Liebal, K. (2011). Joint attention, communication, and knowing together in infancy (pp. 159–181). Joint attention: New developments in psychology, philosophy of mind, and social neuroscience.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi, B., Shah, P., Rowe, M. L., Nelson, C. A., Tager-Flusberg, H. (2019). Gesture Development, Caregiver Responsiveness, and Language and Diagnostic Outcomes in Infants at High and Low Risk for Autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1-17.

  • Cleophas, T. J., Zwinderman, A. H. (2011). Bonferroni t-Test. In Statistical Analysis of Clinical Data on a Pocket Calculator(pp. 41-42). Springer, Dordrecht.

  • Cochet, H., & Vauclair, J. (2012). Pointing gesture in young children. Gesture and Multimodal Development, 39, 7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colonnesi, C., Stams, G. J. J., Koster, I., & Noom, M. J. (2010). The relation between pointing and language development: A meta-analysis. Developmental Review, 30(4), 352–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 685–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Marchena, A., & Eigsti, I. M. (2010). Conversational gestures in autism spectrum disorders: Asynchrony but not decreased frequency. Autism research, 3(6), 311–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellawadi, A. B., & Weismer, S. E. (2014). Assessing gestures in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(2), 524–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S. E., Levitt, P., & Nelson, C. A., III. (2010). How the timing and quality of early experiences influence the development of brain architecture. Child Development, 81(1), 28–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin-Meadow, S. (2015). Gesture as a window onto communicative abilities: Implications for diagnosis and intervention. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 22(2), 50–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin-Meadow, S., Arnon, I., Tice, M., Kurumada, C., Estigarribia, B. (2014). How gesture helps children learn language. Language in Interaction. Studies in honor of Eve V. Clark, 157-171.

  • Gómez, J. C. (2015). Hand leading and hand taking gestures in autism and typically developing children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(1), 68–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goods, K. S., Ishijima, E., Chang, Y. C., & Kasari, C. (2013). Preschool based JASPER intervention in minimally verbal children with autism: Pilot RCT. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(5), 1050–1056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, R. G., & Watson, L. R. (2015). Brief report: Gestures in children at risk for autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(7), 2267–2273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, E., Stroud, L., Bloomfield, S., Cronje, J., Foxcroft, C., Hunter, K., Venter, D. (2016). Griffiths scales of child development.

  • Ingersoll, B., Lalonde, K. (2010). The impact of object and gesture imitation training on language use in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

  • Jo, H., Schieve, L. A., Rice, C. E., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., Tian, L. H., Blumberg, S. J., et al. (2015). Age at autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis by race, ethnicity, and primary household language among children with special health care needs, United States, 2009–2010. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19(8), 1687–1697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koegel, L. K., Ashbaugh, K., Koegel, R. L. (2016). Pivotal response treatment. In Early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder (pp. 85-112). Springer, Cham.

  • Koo, T. K., & Li, M. Y. (2016). A guideline of selecting and reporting intraclass correlation coefficients for reliability research. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, 15(2), 155–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakens, D. (2013). Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: a practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeBarton, E. S., & Iverson, J. M. (2016). Gesture development in toddlers with an older sibling with autism. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 51(1), 18–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., DiLavore, P. C., Risi, S., Gotham, K., Bishop, S. L., et al. (2015). ADOS-2 (pp. 1–4). Manual (Part I): Modules.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manwaring, S. S., Stevens, A. L., Mowdood, A., & Lackey, M. (2018). A scoping review of deictic gesture use in toddlers with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 3, 2396941517751891.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mastrogiuseppe, M., Capirci, O., Cuva, S., & Venuti, P. (2015). Gestural communication in children with autism spectrum disorders during mother–child interaction. Autism, 19(4), 469–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McHugh, M. L. (2013). The chi-square test of independence. Biochemia Medica: Biochemia Medica, 23(2), 143–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odom, S. L., Boyd, B. A., Hall, L. J., & Hume, K. (2010). Evaluation of comprehensive treatment models for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(4), 425–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özçalışkan, Ş., Adamson, L. B., & Dimitrova, N. (2016). Early deictic but not other gestures predict later vocabulary in both typical development and autism. Autism, 20(6), 754–763.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özçalışkan, Ş., Adamson, L. B., Dimitrova, N., & Baumann, S. (2017). Early gesture provides a helping hand to spoken vocabulary development for children with autism, down syndrome, and typical development. Journal of Cognition and Development, 18(3), 325–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Young, G. S., Landa, R. J., Brian, J., Bryson, S., Charman, T., et al. (2015). Diagnostic stability in young children at risk for autism spectrum disorder: A baby siblings research consortium study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(9), 988–998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrault, A., Chaby, L., Bigouret, F., Oppetit, A., Cohen, D., Plaza, M., et al. (2019). Comprehension of conventional gestures in typical children, children with autism spectrum disorders and children with language disorders. Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence, 67(1), 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickard, K. E., & Ingersoll, B. R. (2016). Quality versus quantity: The role of socioeconomic status on parent-reported service knowledge, service use, unmet service needs, and barriers to service use. Autism, 20(1), 106–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robins, D. L., Casagrande, K., Barton, M., Chen, C. M. A., Dumont-Mathieu, T., & Fein, D. (2014). Validation of the modified checklist for autism in toddlers, revised with follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F). Pediatrics, 133(1), 37–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, S. J., Dawson, G. (2010). Early Start Denver Model for young children with autism: Promoting language, learning, and engagement. Guilford Press.

  • Rubin, E., Prizant, B. M., Laurent, A. C., Wetherby, A. M. (2013). Social communication, emotional regulation, and transactional support (SCERTS). In Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders (pp. 107-127). Springer, New York, NY.

  • Talbott, M. R., Young, G. S., Munson, J., Estes, A., Vismara, L. A., Rogers, S. J. (2018). The developmental sequence and relations between gesture and spoken language in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Child Development.

  • Vulchanova, M., Ramos Cabo, S., & Vulchanov, V. (2019). Gesture and language trajectories in early development: An overview from the Autism Spectrum Disorder perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1211.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Warne, R. T. (2014). A Primer on Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) for Behavioral Scientists (p. 19). Research & Evaluation: Practical Assessment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, L. R., Crais, E. R., Baranek, G. T., Dykstra, J. R., Wilson, K. P. (2013). Communicative gesture use in infants with and without autism: A retrospective home video study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

  • Wong, M. K. Y., & So, W. C. (2018). Absence of delay in spontaneous use of gestures in spoken narratives among children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 72, 128–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S. E., Brian, J., Smith, I. M., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., et al. (2016). Stability of diagnostic assessment for autism spectrum disorder between 18 and 36 months in a high-risk cohort. Autism Research, 9(7), 790–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all of the caregivers and their children for their participation in this research study, and for their contribution to the advancement of our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Funding

No funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Disorders, Sacred Heart University, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield, CT, 06825, USA

    Avinash Mishra, Victoria Ceballos, Kelsey Himmelwright & Shannon McCabe

  2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Lindsay Scott

Authors
  1. Avinash Mishra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Victoria Ceballos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kelsey Himmelwright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shannon McCabe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lindsay Scott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AM conceived of the investigation and participated in study design, data collection and analyses, and interpretation. LS participated in data collection and analyses. All authors participated in conceptualization of the study and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Avinash Mishra.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mishra, A., Ceballos, V., Himmelwright, K. et al. Gesture Production in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 1658–1667 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04647-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04647-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation