The role of caregiver gestures and gesture-related responses of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social communicative abnormalities. Deficits and delays in gestural communication are among the early deficits of ASD and also a major social modality in early caregiver-toddler interaction. Caregiver gestures have an important role in the cognitive and social development of children with ASD. Thus, it is urgent to further explore the role of caregiver gestures in early caregiver-toddler interaction. In this cross-sectional study, we observed the caregivers' gestures and responses of toddlers aged between 18 and 24 months during play (ASD = 44, TD = 29) and dining activities (ASD = 34, TD = 27). By observing the different frequencies and patterns of gestures by the caregiver-child interaction and the different proportions of children's responses to the caregiver's gestures, we found that, compared to caregivers of typically developing toddlers, caregivers of toddlers with ASD had fewer synchronized gestures and more unsynchronized gestures in the play activity and more supplementary gestures in dining activity. Toddlers with ASD produced more social responses to caregivers' synchronized gestures, whereas the use of synchronized gestures by the caregivers in caregiver-toddler interaction had a positive influence on social responses to toddlers with ASD. The findings suggest that effective use of gestures by caregivers during caregiver-toddler activities can improve children's social responses.

The Gestures in 2-4-Year-Old Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Deficits in gestures act as early signs of impairment in social interaction (SI) and communication in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the pieces of literature on atypical gesture patterns in ASD children are contradictory. This investigation aimed to explore the atypical gesture pattern of ASD children from the dimensions of quantity, communicative function, and integration ability; and its relationship with social ability and adaptive behavior. We used a semi-structured interactive play to evaluate gestures of 33 ASD children (24-48 months old) and 24 typically developing (TD) children (12-36 months old). And we evaluated the social ability, adaptive behavior, and productive language of ASD and TD children by using the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System version II (ABAS-II) and Chinese Communication Development Inventory (CCDI). No matter the total score of CCDI was corrected or not, the relative frequency of total gestures, behavior regulation (BR) gestures, SI gestures, and joint attention (JA) gestures of ASD children were lower than that of TD children, as well as the proportion of JA gestures. However, there was no significant group difference in the proportion of BR and SI gestures. Before adjusting for the total score of CCDI, the relative frequency of gestures without vocalization/verbalization integration and vocalization/verbalization-integrated gestures in ASD children was lower than that in TD children. However, after matching the total score of CCDI, only the relative frequency of gestures without vocalization/verbalization integration was lower. Regardless of the fact that the total score of CCDI was corrected or not, the relative frequency and the proportion of eye-gaze-integrated gestures in ASD children were lower than that in TD children. And the proportion of gestures without eye-gaze integration in ASD children was higher than that in TD children. For ASD children, the social skills score in ABAS-II was positively correlated with the relative frequency of SI gesture and eye-gaze-integrated gestures; the total score of ABAS-II was positively correlated with the relative frequency of total gestures and eye-gaze-integrated gestures. In conclusion, ASD children produce fewer gestures and have deficits in JA gestures. The deficiency of integrating eye gaze and gesture is the core deficit of ASD children's gesture communication. Relatively, ASD children might be capable of integrating vocalization/verbalization into gestures. SI gestures and the ability to integrate gesture and eye gaze are related to social ability. The quantity of gestures and the ability to integrate gesture with eye gaze are related to adaptive behavior. Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier ChiCTR1800019679.

Morphometric variations and growth of the profile of the face in Chinese boys aged 4-15 years.

Much research has been conducted on the morphological growth and development of Chinese children. However, very few facial measurements have been documented, especially of the sagittal plane of the face. Morphometric variations and growth of the sagittal plane of the face in children were analyzed using geometric morphometric method in this study. The studied sample consisted of 108 boys (4-15 years) from Huzhu County in Qinghai Province of China, which were divided into three groups: 4-6 years old, 7-11 years old and 12-15 years old. It was revealed that the landmark-groups of nose area were relatively long, indicating large variation in the direction of the nasal protuberance, which possibly reflected the vigorous growth of the children's nose. There were larger landmark-groups' variability ranges in children aged 7-11 years, which may be related to the rapid growth in this period. The average morphology of the sagittal plane of the face changed a lot with age, which was showed in the comparison of the averaged graph of three groups: (1) the proportion of the forehead to entire face became smaller; (2) the 7th landmark extruded more noticeably; (3) the nose became protruding; (4) the position of the mouth was relatively getting more upward, and the angle formed between the upper lip and the lower lip increased, and the lower lip moved forward; (5) the chin protuberated. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed significant differences in the main distribution areas between age group 4-6 years and 12-15 years, even though there was a lot of overlap in the three age groups. Allometric analysis showed that the sagittal plane of the face aged 4-6 years and 7-11 years changed in the following way as the size increased: the forehead became vertical and the upper lip turned to be smaller. Additionally, as the size increased in age group 12-15 years, the most prominent landmark of the forehead became more conspicuous, and the bridge of the nose got more upturned. These may reflect the common morphological features and growing development of the facial sagittal plane of Chinese children.