Brain injury kids' gesturing linked to language developmentRSS Feed

Young children with brain injuries who use gestures to communicate appear to develop their spoken language more effectively than those who do not gesture at a young age, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Chicago compared 11 children who had brain injuries to a sample of 53 healthy children for the report published in the March issue of Child Development.

It showed that eight of the 11 children with brain injuries had vocabulary development below the 25th percentile at 18 months, but only five of the children still had delayed language development four months later.

Co-author Susan Goldin-Meadow, the Beardsley Ruml distinguished service professor in psychology, said: "The striking result of our study is that these five children with language delays were the same five who were low gesture producers at 18 months."

The amount of gestures produced by young children may be an indicator for doctors to assess potential future language difficulties, she added.

Meanwhile, Brain Injury Awareness Month is drawing to a close in the US, which has seen a particular focus on the need to educate sports coaches and young athletes about the risks of brain injuries.

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