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Article published In: Gesture
Vol. 22:1 (2023) ► pp.39–61

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The road to language through gesture

The longitudinal case of parent-child interactions in deaf children

ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University – Ghent, Belgium
 | Ghent University – Ghent, Belgium
 | Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR) – Rome, Italy
Published online: 27 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.22001.wil
Abstract
This study explores the role of gestures in Flemish Sign Language (VGT) development through a longitudinal observation of three deaf children’s early interactions. These children were followed over a period of one and a half year, at the ages of 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months. This research compares the communicative development of a deaf child growing up in a deaf family and two deaf children growing up in hearing families. The latter two children received early cochlear implants when they were respectively 10 and 7 months old. It is the first study describing the types and tokens of children’s gestures used in early dyadic interactions in Flanders (Belgium). The description of our observations shows three distinct developmental patterns in terms of the use of gestures and the production of combinations. The study supports the finding that children’s gestural output is subject to their parental language, and it further indicates an impact of age of cochlear implantation.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Method
    • Ethical approval
    • Participants
    • Data collection
    • Data analysis
    • Inter-rater reliability
  • Results
    • Child 1 (D/HH dyad)
    • Child 2 (H/D dyad)
    • Child 3 (H/D dyad)
    • All children
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (50)
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Samuelsson, Christina, Ulrika Marklund, Björn Lyxell & Henrik Danielsson
2025. The use of gestures in book reading and play situations related to vocabulary in young children with cochlear implants. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 39:6-8 ► pp. 559 ff. DOI logo

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