Atypicalities of Gesture Form and Function in Autistic Adults.
A de Marchena, E S Kim, A Bagdasarov and 4 others
PMID 30523479WHAT IT FOUND
Verbally fluent autistic adults used co-speech gestures differently from controls: more turn-taking gestures, more gestures coders interpreted less confidently, and more single-handed gestures.
Gesture size and added information did not differ.
Key findings
01Autistic adults used a different distribution of gesture types than controls, with more interactive gestures and more unclassifiable gestures.
02The higher interactive gesture use was mainly driven by autistic adults using gestures to regulate turn-taking over three times as often as controls.
03Autistic adults produced twice as many single-handed gestures as two-handed gestures, unlike controls, and within the autistic group single-handed gesture proportion independently predicted ADOS-2 scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only verbally fluent autistic adults who scored at or above 70 on two IQ index scores, so it does not describe adults with autism who have limited language or cognitive skills. For most gesture analyses, 2 control adults and 3 autistic adults were excluded because they produced fewer than 5 gestures, leaving 19 controls and 18 autistic adults. The gesture data were collected after autistic participants completed the TUNE In social functioning program. The interaction was semi-structured: confederates used scripted first-trial responses and were trained to wait longer than usual, so the conversation was not ordinary everyday talk. Coders who judged gesture meaning were neurotypical college students, and the authors note that other autistic adults or familiar people might interpret these gestures differently. The study did not measure spoken language output or use a validated motor skills test, so links between gesture, verbal strategies, and general motor ability remain unclear.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that teaching gestures or changing hand use will improve communication. The study compared spontaneous gestures in a lab task and did not test an intervention. It also did not include autistic adults with limited language or cognitive skills.