The frequency, variation, and semantic integration of co-speech gesture production in verbal adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8045270 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Renáta Longauerová (University of Amsterdam, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Publication date | 2020-04-05 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | PREPRINT |
| Publisher | Center for Open Science (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.31234/osf.io/qdxje |
| OpenAlex | W3162149218 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
Gestures play an important role in communication, but for populations with atypical language development, gestures are often an area of significant difficulty, especially for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research on younger children with ASD show a significant delay in gesture production, as well as a complete absence of certain types of gestures. However, previous work leaves open the question of whether the frequency and variation of gesture production is impaired also in adolescents with ASD. Moreover, very little is known about the semantic integration of speech and gesture in this population. In the present study, 5 adolescents with ASD and 5 typically-developing adolescents completed a narrative task, in which they were asked to retell a story of 4 animated cartoon clips. The results show that while there is no significant difference between the two groups in the frequency of gesture production and the types of gestures they produce, the frequency of gesture production in the individuals with ASD significantly depends on their verbal working memory skills. Moreover, it seems that many impairments that were confirmed by earlier studies for ASD children in early and late childhood seem to be mere delays that get resolved over time, such as the usage of supplementary gestures
Variation (astronomy · Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Hearing Impairment and Communication
| Highly cited | No |
|---|