ANALYSIS OF GESTURE PRODUCTION IN PORTUGUESE INFANTS WITH AND WITHOUT HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Etelvina Lima, Anabela Cruz-Santos

Abstract


The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the characteristics of communicative gestures produced by Portuguese infants with and without hearing impairment aged between 8 and 18 months.  The participants in this study were 37 infants with normal hearing and 4 infants with hearing impairment. The participants were recruited from kindergartens in the central and southern regions of the country and from a hospital in the central region of Portugal. The results of this study show that as young children grow, they become increasingly confident about the effect of their communicative gestures on adults, and the characteristics of the gestures become more refined or complex; although young children with hearing impairment use communicative gestures in a similar way to their peers, the characteristics of their gesture production differ. The present study emphasizes the importance of characterizing children's gestures in the prelinguistic period, as it allows a better understanding of how the communication process develops and how gestures are used. It is expected that the differences found between different age groups and between children with and without hearing impairment will help Portuguese professionals in more efficient clinical and educational assessment and intervention processes.

 

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Keywords


gestures, infants, hearing impairment, pre-linguistic period

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v10i8.5759

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