Caregivers’ responsiveness influences the development of early deictic gestures: Longitudinal and intervention evidence in relation to subsequent language development

AbstractInfants’ deictic gestures are early manifestations of intentional, referential communication and have been shown to predict later language acquisition. Infants’ social interactional experiences influence the development of gesture communication. The present study investigated the longitudinal and cross-sectional influence of caregivers’ responsiveness and pointing on infants’ hold-out-give (HoG) and index-finger pointing gestures at 10 months, and infants’ language abilities at 24 months. Utilizing a longitudinal design, we assessed 82 typically developing infants, 42 of whom were randomly assigned to a training group. Training was designed to enhance caregivers’ responsiveness. We hypothesized that caregivers’ responsiveness would predict and consequently enhance infants’ gesture and language development. If infants learn about reference by observing caregivers’ pointing gestures, we expected positive associations between caregivers’ pointing frequency and infants’ communication development. Group comparisons revealed that training increased 10-month-olds HoG frequency, but not infants’ pointing frequency and language skills. Results from regression analyses further revealed a positive association between caregivers’ responsiveness at 10 months and infants’ pointing and HoG frequency across groups. The predictive relation between infants’ pointing frequency and language abilities at 24 months was confirmed. In support of social constructivist accounts, these findings indicate that infants’ early gesture development is influenced by caregivers’ responsiveness. This relation can be used for caregiver-based communication interventions.