A first description of Auslan handshapes used by young children.

The study used a convenience sample from a single school, so results may not generalize to other Auslan dialects or educational settings. Children were not followed longitudinally from infancy, so this describes prevalence at a specific age range (3-6 years) rather than the order of acquisition. The HART tool was novel and only validated in this specific context; it relies on staff observation, which may have missed signs that were completely unintelligible. The sample size for rare handshapes was too small to draw conclusions about their accuracy or usage. Communication partner intelligibility was not measured; a sign with an incorrect handshape might still be understood in context, meaning the 'impact' scores are theoretical.

No conflicts of interest or funding sources are explicitly detailed in the provided text, though the study was approved by a university ethics board.

Do not use these norms to assess infants or very young children. The participants were aged 3 to 6, and most had less than two years of Auslan exposure. The high accuracy rate found here reflects older learners with developed fine motor skills, not the typical performance of a toddler acquiring their first signs.