摘要：Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between gesture and speech in the preschool children with expressive language impairment (E-SLI). Methods: Thirty-six preschool children-12 E-SLI, 12 typically developing children matched for chronological age (CA-TD), and 12 typically developing children matched for language age (LA-TD)-completed a picture naming task and a description task. Three-way mixed analysis of variance was used to analyze the modality of expression, the types of gestures, and the semantic relationship between gestures and co-occurring speech. Results: The frequency of ‘speech + gesture’ in children with E-SLI was significantly higher than in CA-TD children. In addition, the frequency of ‘only speech’ and ‘speech + gesture’ in children with E-SLI was similar to that in LA-TD children. In terms of the gesture types, children with E-SLI used significantly more deictic gestures than CA-TD children did. Further, the frequency of representational gestures in children with E-SLI was similar to that of LA-TD children. Conclusion: In educational and clinical settings, it is important to acknowledge that the gestures accompanying with limited verbal expression in children with E-SLI deliver additional semantic information. Therefore, it is essential for educators and clinicians to carefully examine the use of gestures when treating children with E-SLI .
关键词：speech & gesture;expressive specific language impairment;nonverbal communication
