Introduction: Deictic gesture use is important for children at an early age with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the development of spoken language. The most frequently used deictic gestures are reaching, pointing, showing, and giving.
Objective: This study aims to compare the production of deictic gestures in Tamil-speaking toddlers at risk for ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers.
Methods: Participants in this study included 45 Tamil-speaking toddlers (with age at mental development of 12-36 months and age at language development of 6-18 months) and their parents. They were put in three groups of ASD (n=15), TD-DA (n=15, matched for age at mental development and gender), and TD-LA (n=15, matched for age at language development and gender). The parents received instruction to play with their children like they were playing at home, using a set of toys given to them, and this session was video recorded. The Eudico Linguistic Annotator (ELAN) was used to analyze the deictic gestures (reaching, pointing, giving, and showing) and their subtypes.
Results: There were significant differences between the ASD and TD-DA groups (P=0.025) and between the ASD and TD-LL groups (P= 0.014) in producing overall deictic gestures. The ASD group produced fewer deictic gestures (Mean = 17.20) during dyadic interaction than the TD-DA (Mean = 25.60) and TD-LL (Mean = 29.46) groups. The most frequently produced deictic gesture type by the ASD group was reaching (Mean = 15.13) followed by pointing (Mean = 1.20), giving (Mean = 0.86), and showing (Mean = 0.20).
Conclusion: Tamil-speaking children at risk for ASD have deficits in the production of deictic gestures such as pointing, giving, and showing compared to their TD peers. The findings underscore the importance of assessing the deictic gestures produced by toddlers at risk for ASD, as well as their other communication abilities, which can help in planning for assessment and intervention.
نوع مطالعه:
پژوهشی |
موضوع مقاله:
گفتاردرمانی دریافت: 1403/4/21 | پذیرش: 1403/8/22 | انتشار: 1404/2/11