Child Deictic Gesture Use and Maternal Labeling in Toddlers With Down Syndrome.

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Title: Child Deictic Gesture Use and Maternal Labeling in Toddlers With Down Syndrome.
Authors: Mattie, Laura J.1 ljhahn@illinois.edu, Fanta, Daniela1, Falcon, Emily1, Hadley, Pamela A.1
Source: American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Mar2026, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p536-599. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Down syndrome, *Data analysis, *Parenting, *Attitudes of mothers, *Mother-child relationship, Nonverbal communication in children, Descriptive statistics, Statistics, Data analysis software, Disease complications
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the deictic gesture use of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) and their mothers' use of labels. Relationships between child and maternal deictic gestures; maternal use of labels; and broader, traditional measures of maternal linguistic input were explored. Method: Participants were 25 toddlers with DS (14-31 months) and their mothers. Videos of a 15-min mother-child free-play were coded for child and maternal deictic gesture use. All maternal utterances were transcribed and coded to compute the number of complete and intelligible utterances, mean length of utterance in morphemes, number of different words, use of referential nouns, and labels. Labels were operationally defined as referential nouns appearing alone, in a noun phrase (e.g., blue pants), or in a declarative sentence with the linguistic form pronoun + copula + noun phrase (e.g., that's the duck). Mothers completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and the MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventory-Words and Gestures about their child. Results: Despite the low frequency of toddlers' deictic gestures and maternal labels, all deictic gestures, all forms of pointing (touch, proximal, distal), and touch points were positively correlated with their mothers' use of labels. Conclusions: The results of this study contribute to the body of work documenting child deictic gestures and maternal labeling in DS, as well as how deictic gestures and labels in adult input are operationally defined. Potential clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Label: Title
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  Data: Child Deictic Gesture Use and Maternal Labeling in Toddlers With Down Syndrome.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Mattie%2C+Laura+J%2E%22">Mattie, Laura J.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> ljhahn@illinois.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fanta%2C+Daniela%22">Fanta, Daniela</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Falcon%2C+Emily%22">Falcon, Emily</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hadley%2C+Pamela+A%2E%22">Hadley, Pamela A.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22American+Journal+of+Speech-Language+Pathology%22">American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology</searchLink>. Mar2026, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p536-599. 14p.
– Name: Subject
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Down+syndrome%22">Down syndrome</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis%22">Data analysis</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parenting%22">Parenting</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attitudes+of+mothers%22">Attitudes of mothers</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mother-child+relationship%22">Mother-child relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Nonverbal+communication+in+children%22">Nonverbal communication in children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistics%22">Statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Disease+complications%22">Disease complications</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the deictic gesture use of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) and their mothers' use of labels. Relationships between child and maternal deictic gestures; maternal use of labels; and broader, traditional measures of maternal linguistic input were explored. Method: Participants were 25 toddlers with DS (14-31 months) and their mothers. Videos of a 15-min mother-child free-play were coded for child and maternal deictic gesture use. All maternal utterances were transcribed and coded to compute the number of complete and intelligible utterances, mean length of utterance in morphemes, number of different words, use of referential nouns, and labels. Labels were operationally defined as referential nouns appearing alone, in a noun phrase (e.g., blue pants), or in a declarative sentence with the linguistic form pronoun + copula + noun phrase (e.g., that's the duck). Mothers completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and the MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventory-Words and Gestures about their child. Results: Despite the low frequency of toddlers' deictic gestures and maternal labels, all deictic gestures, all forms of pointing (touch, proximal, distal), and touch points were positively correlated with their mothers' use of labels. Conclusions: The results of this study contribute to the body of work documenting child deictic gestures and maternal labeling in DS, as well as how deictic gestures and labels in adult input are operationally defined. Potential clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1044/2025_AJSLP-25-00258
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        Text: English
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        PageCount: 14
        StartPage: 536
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      – SubjectFull: Down syndrome
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parenting
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Attitudes of mothers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mother-child relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Nonverbal communication in children
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      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Disease complications
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Child Deictic Gesture Use and Maternal Labeling in Toddlers With Down Syndrome.
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              Text: Mar2026
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              Y: 2026
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