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Rationale: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is traditionally cast as a language impairment with prominent morphosyntactic deficits. However, motor impairments are also documented, including in gesture. A three-year study of novel gesture production in children with DLD and their typically developing peers assessed the pattern of accuracy deficits in novel gesture production, longitudinal deficit persistence, and how gesture production accuracy relates to language outcomes.
Method: Twenty-eight preschool children (14 DLD, 14 TD) participated in a novel gesture learning task across three years. Standardized language, speech, and motor assessments were collected at each time-point. Phonetic transcriptions of gesture accuracy (including features of shape, location, path, and orientation) at year one were analyzed in relation to language outcomes at year three.
Results: Findings show that children with DLD demonstrated deficits in gesture production accuracy. Some specific phonological features were correlated with morphological and omnibus language outcomes.
Conclusions: These initial results support that gesture integrates linguistic and motoric deficits associated with DLD.
This research was supported by NIH/NIDCD R01 DC04826 |
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