title: Gestural abilities of children with specific language impairment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when language is significantly below chronological age expectations in the absence of other developmental disorders, sensory impairments or global developmental delays. It has been suggested that gesture may enhance communication in children with SLI by providing an alternative means to convey words or extend utterances. However, gesture is a complex task that requires the integration of social, cognitive and motor skills, skills that some children with SLI may find challenging. In addition, there is reason to believe that language and gesture form an integrated system leading to the prediction that children with a SLI may also have difficulties with gestural communication.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the link between language and gesture in children with poor language skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen children with SLI and 14 age-matched typically developing children (TD) participated in this study. The children completed measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary, non-verbal cognition, motor control, gesture comprehension and gesture production.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TD children achieved significantly higher scores on measures of gesture production and gesture comprehension relative to children with SLI. Significant correlations between both measures of vocabulary and both measures of gesture suggest a tight link between language and gesture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support the idea that gesture and language form one integrated communication system, rather than two separate communication modalities. This implies that children with SLI may have underlying deficits that impact not only on language but also on gesture production and comprehension.
authors: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
authors: Charlotte
authors: C
authors: Wray
authors: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
authors: Courtenay Frazier
authors: CF
authors: Norbury
authors: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
authors: Katie
authors: K
authors: Alcock
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: children; gesture; motor control; specific language impairment