Lexical skills and gesture use: A comparison between expressive and receptive/expressive late talkers

Studies on late talkers (LTs) highlighted their heterogeneity and the relevance of describing different communicative profiles. To examine lexical skills and gesture use in expressive (E-LTs) vs. receptive-expressive (R/E-LTs) LTs through a structured task. Forty-six 30-month-old screened LTs were d...

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Published in:	Research in developmental disabilities Vol. 148; p. 104711
Main Authors:	Verganti, Caterina, Suttora, Chiara, Zuccarini, Mariagrazia, Aceti, Arianna, Corvaglia, Luigi, Bello, Arianna, Caselli, M. Cristina, Guarini, Annalisa, Sansavini, Alessandra
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2024
Subjects:	gestures late talkers lexical skills MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory picture naming game MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory late talkers lexical skills picture naming game gestures
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Summary:	Studies on late talkers (LTs) highlighted their heterogeneity and the relevance of describing different communicative profiles. To examine lexical skills and gesture use in expressive (E-LTs) vs. receptive-expressive (R/E-LTs) LTs through a structured task. Forty-six 30-month-old screened LTs were distinguished into E-LTs (n= 35) and R/E-LTs (n= 11) according to their receptive skills. Lexical skills and gesture use were assessed with a Picture Naming Game by coding answer accuracy (correct, incorrect, no response), modality of expression (spoken, spoken-gestural, gestural), type of gestures (deictic, representational), and spoken-gestural answers’ semantic relationship (complementary, equivalent, supplementary). R/E-LTs showed lower scores than E-LTs for noun and predicate comprehension with fewer correct answers, and production with fewer correct and incorrect answers, and more no responses. R/E-LTs also exhibited lower scores in spoken answers, representational gestures, and equivalent spoken-gestural answers for noun production and in all spoken and gestural answers for predicate production. Findings highlighted more impaired receptive and expressive lexical skills and lower gesture use in R/E-LTs compared to E-LTs, underlying the relevance of assessing both lexical and gestural skills through a structured task, besides parental questionnaires and developmental scales, to describe LTs’ communicative profiles. •Receptive/expressive and expressive late talkers differ in lexicon and gesture use.•Receptive/expressive late talkers show lower receptive and expressive lexical skills.•Receptive/expressive late talkers show lower gesture use.•Receptive/expressive, gesture, and cognitive assessment is needed in language delay.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0891-4222 1873-3379
DOI:	10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104711