Different Ways of Making a Point: A Study of Gestural Communication in Typical and Atypical Early Development.
Sara Ramos-Cabo, Valentin Vulchanov, Mila Vulchanova
PMID 33241639WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism produced fewer pointing gestures than typical peers, specifically using fewer index-finger points and fewer points without touching the object.
These morphological differences suggest a delay in reaching the more sophisticated stage of gestural communication.
Key findings
01Children with autism produced significantly fewer total pointing gestures than typically developing children.
02Children with autism produced significantly fewer index finger pointing gestures than typically developing children.
03Children with autism produced significantly fewer no-contact pointing gestures than typically developing children.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (47 children), and the children with autism were significantly older than the typically developing control group, which complicates direct comparison. The study excluded instrumental gestures from the main analysis because only two children with autism produced them. The findings are correlational and cross-sectional; the study does not track whether these gesture patterns predict later language outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that high-risk siblings show the same gestural deficits as children with autism. The high-risk group in this study did not differ significantly from typically developing children, suggesting that sibling status alone is not a clear predictor of this specific morphological delay in pointing.