Iconic gestures depict objects or events

Metaphoric gestures represent abstract concepts or ideas

Deictics are meant to show location in real world, such as with pointing

Beat gestures are subtle and procuded for emphasis

Emblems are word substitutes and depent on cultural semantic content

Grinnell College

People use gestures to communicate information to other people, many times in addition to the words they are speaking. People with ASD have inhibited communication abilities, included their use of gestures. They could be delayed or non-existent in situations where a gesture would be helpful.

Gestures 

Silverman, L., Eigsti, I.M., & Bennetto, L. (2017). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Gestures in Canary Row Narrations by High-Functioning Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder. International Society for Autism Research. DOI: 10.1002/aur.1785

Gestures in Canary Row Narrations by High-Functioning Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Gestures provide semantic information in a visual formate. It can convey importance of certain words, which increases the efficiency of communication. Gestures also improve the memory of a listener by taking both auditory and visual information and processing them together. Speakers benefit from the use of gestures as well, because it can organize visual-spatial information into concepts and can reduce the cognitive load.

Communicative Significance of Gestures

Gesture Classification

Young children tend to startusing gestures between 6 and 14 months. Early gestures are pointing at objects and people, and other nonverbal acts. These tend to be deictics, combining a word with a gesture. This is the dominant form of communication in infants and young toddlers. Iconic and emblem gestures are more common as the child ages and becomes fluent speakers of their native language. By the time they are read to go to school, children have a range of gestures an patterns similar to adults. 

Gestures in Typical Development

Preverbal children with ASD tend to show fewer gestures compared to children with typical development. They are less likely to use pointing gestures to direct attention to objects or areas of interest, though they are able to make requests using gestures. Older children continue to show difficulties with gesture, either with timing or rate of use. People with ASD tend to use fewer metaphoric and beat gestures compared to typical development people, though their rates of iconic, deictic, and emblem gestures tend to be similar across the two groups.

Gestures in ASD

Children learn to use gestures through parents and other people who take care of them. It's an important part of language development that requires effort from both parties. It also is a first step to developing language skills. When a child gestures, a parent tends to interperate and verbalize the action or meaning. The verbalization seems to contribute to the child's vocabulary at the agge of 4. Verbalized gestures/meanings are significantly more likely to enter a child's vocabulary months after it is first introduced compared to words spoken by parents in passing.

Familial affects on gesture development

Teachers use gestures constantly when teaching. They have been found to assist in language development, math, and other areas.

Gesture's effect on learning

Gestures in Canary Row Narrations by High-Functioning Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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