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  • Title: Tapping toddlers' evolving semantic representation via gesture.
    Author: Capone NC.
    Journal: J Speech Lang Hear Res; 2007 Jun; 50(3):732-45. PubMed ID: 17538112.
    Abstract:
    PURPOSE: This study presents evidence that gesture is a means to understanding the semantic representations of toddlers. METHOD: The data were part of a study of toddlers' word learning conducted by N. C. Capone and K. K. McGregor (2005). The object function probe from that study was administered after 1 exposure and after 3 exposures to objects. Here, toddlers' gestures were described and their gesture-speech combinations were analyzed as a function of instruction and time. RESULTS: A large proportion of toddlers gestured. Gestures were iconic and deictic, but toddlers produced more iconic gestures than previously reported. Consistent with studies of older children, toddlers produced gesture-speech combinations that reflected their learning state. CONCLUSION: Gesture can be both a source of semantic knowledge and an expression of that knowledge. Gesture provides a window onto evolving semantic representations and, therefore, can be 1 method of assessing what a child knows at a time when oral language skills are limited and are, perhaps, an unreliable indicator of what the child knows. Embodied knowledge may underlie the use of gesture. Clinical implications are discussed.
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