Do Spoken Vocabulary and Gestural Production Distinguish Children with Transient Language Delay from Children Who Will Show Developmental Language Disorder? - A Pilot Study

Sep 28, 2026

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The literature on the role of gestures in children with language delay is partial and controversial. This pilot study examines gestural production and expression modality in children with language delay, focusing on semantic and temporal relationships between gestures and words in gesture-plus-word combinations. Thirty-three children were assessed at 32 months for cognitive and lexical skills and spontaneous gestures, and at 78 months through parental interviews for diagnosis. Results identify three groups and highlight gesture modality and temporal synchrony patterns associated with transient versus developmental language disorder.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Prevalence and diagnostic criteria for language delay and DLD

Gestural and lexical differences reported in prior studies

Methods

Participants and grouping based on later diagnosis

Measures of cognitive, lexical, and gestural performance

Results

Cognitive and lexical skills across groups

Gesture modality differences

Temporal relationships between gestures and spoken answers

Discussion

Article Do Spoken Vocabulary and Gestural Production Distinguish Children with Transient Language Delay from Children Who Will Show Developmental Language Disorder? A Pilot Study Pasquale Rinaldi 1, *, Arianna Bello 2, Francesca Romana Lasorsa 3 and Maria Cristina Caselli 1 􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀁􀀄 􀀆􀀇􀀈 􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀄􀀅􀀆􀀇 Citation: Rinaldi, P.; Bello, A.; Lasorsa, F.R.; Caselli, M.C. Do Spoken Vocabulary and Gestural Production Distinguish Children with Transient Language Delay from Children Who Will Show Developmental Language Disorder? A Pilot Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 3822 . [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)ijerph19073822 Academic Editors: Maja Roch, Alessandra Sansavini and Viola Macchi Cassia Received: 8 December 2021 Accepted: 21 March 2022 Published: 23 March 2022 Publisher's Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afﬁliations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Via Nomentana, 56, 00161 Rome, Italy; [cristina.caselli@istc.cnr.it](cristina.caselli@istc.cnr.it) 2 Department of Education, Roma Tre University, Via Castro Pretorio, 20, 00185 Rome, Italy; [arianna.bello@uniroma3.it](arianna.bello@uniroma3.it) 3 Asl Roma 1 TSMREE 13, Via Domenico Silveri, 8, 00165 Rome, Italy; [francesca.lasorsa@aslroma1.it](francesca.lasorsa@aslroma1.it) * [Correspondence: pasquale.rinaldi@istc.cnr.it](Correspondence: pasquale.rinaldi@istc.cnr.it) Abstract: The literature on the role of gestures in children with language delay (LD) is partial and controversial. The present study explores gestural production and modality of expression in children with LD and semantic and temporal relationships between gestures and words in gesture + word combinations. Thirty-three children participated (mean age, 26 months), who were recruited through a screening programme for LD. Cognitive skills, lexical abilities, and the use of spontaneous gestures in a naming task were evaluated when the children were 32 months old. When the children were 78 months old, their parents were interviewed to collect information about an eventual diagnosis of developmental language disorder (DLD) . According to these data, the children fell into three groups: children with typical development (n = 13), children with LD who did not show DLD (transient LD; n = 9), and children with LD who showed DLD (n = 11) . No signiﬁcant differences emerged between the three groups for cognitive and lexical skills (comprehension and production), for number of gestures spontaneously produced, and for the sematic relationships between gestures and words. Differences emerged in the modality of expression, where children with transient LD produced more unimodal gestural utterances than typical-development children, and in the temporal relationships between gestures and words, where the children who would show DLD provided more frequent representational gestures before the spoken answer than typical-development children. We suggest a different function for gestures in children with T-LD, who used representational gestures to replace the spoken word they were not yet able to produce, and in children with LD-DLD, who used representational gestures to access spoken words. Keywords: gesture; language delay; developmental language disorder; picture naming game; MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory; representational gesture; temporal synchrony; semantic synchrony 1. Introduction We explore here the lexical skills, gestural production, and relationship betw

FAQs

What is the study trying to distinguish in children with language delay?

It investigates whether spoken vocabulary and gestural production can differentiate children with transient language delay from those who will later show developmental language disorder.

How were participants grouped for analysis?

Thirty-three children were followed and later classified into typical development, transient language delay, and language delay with developmental language disorder based on information collected from parents at later age.

What key differences were found related to gestures and timing?

Differences emerged in gesture expression modality and in temporal relationships: children who would show developmental language disorder produced representational gestures more frequently before the spoken answer.

Sep 28, 2026

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