Comparison of gesture-vocal synchrony and gestures of two children aged 3 to 26 months with and without autism spectrum disorder

Fernández, Gabriela Luisa Gantier; Cavalcante, Marianne Carvalho Bezerra; Souza, Ana Paula Ramos de

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/e20240311pt

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Case Report • CoDAS 37 (5) • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/e20240311en linkcopy

Comparison of gesture-vocal synchrony and gestures of two children aged 3 to 26 months with and without autism spectrum disorder

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

The objective was to compare gesture-vocal synchrony in language functioning between mothers and babies and the gestural typology of babies from 3 to 26 months of age, one of them with autism spectrum disorder (case R), diagnosed at age 3, and the other without diagnosis (case B). It was select moments in which there was greater mother-baby interaction, from a bank of mother-baby interactions footage, from 3 to 26 months. It was analyzed using the Eudico Linguistic Annotator software ( ELAN), considering multimodal categories of sign language and speech of mothers and babies for descriptive statistical analysis. The results showed differences in the frequencies and types of gestures between the babies and also in the synchrony between them and their mothers. In the case of B., the gesture-vocal synchrony and variety of gestures is inserted in a context of conjunction between him and his mother in the first year of life, which gave rise to the second enunciative mechanism in the second year of life. In case R, the conjunction relationships were not established, as the difficulties in reading discomfort and annoyance gestures, very present in the baby since its first months of life, hindered the engagement and shared attention of the mother and her baby, disfavoring the inscription of gesture as language. R. showed language acquisition delay at 26 months. Although the gestural typology of B and R are similar, the frequencies, the quality and, above all, the gesture-vocal synchrony differ between dyads.

Keywords:
Autism; Speech; Multimodality; Language; Child Development

Nº	Age range	Subject	Age of child At collection	Temporal composition of samples
Nº	Age range	Subject	Age of child At collection	Original time of video	Sample selected for ELAN analysis
1	3m 1d – 4m 29d.	R	3 m 25d	18min25 sec	2 min 44 sec
1	3m 1d – 4m 29d.	B	3m7d	14min 19 sec	3 min 31 sec
2	5m 1d – 7m 29d	R	6 m 7d.	19 min. 35 sec	2 min 42sec
2	5m 1d – 7m 29d	B	6m 6d	21 min 51 sec	2 min 32 sec
3	8m 1d- 9 m 29 d	R	8 m 8 d	16min 1sec	2min 33 sec
3	8m 1d- 9 m 29 d	B	9m 29d	12 min 31 sec	2 min 22 sec
4	11m 1d- 12m 29d	R	12m 17d	17 min 17sec	2min 40 sec
4	11m 1d- 12m 29d	B	12m13d	16min 58 sec	2 min 38 sec
5	17m 1d – 18m 29 d.	R	17 m.	19min 34 sec	2 min 43 sec
5	17m 1d – 18m 29 d.	B	17m 19d	13 min 9 sec	2 min 47 sec
6	22m 1d – 26 m 29d	R	26 m 20 d	16min 3 sec	2min. 53 sec
6	22m 1d – 26 m 29d	B	22m	14 min 29 sec	2min 31 sec

Tracks	Symbols
Mother’s speech	-.......................-
Mother’s silence	.......................
Mother's head movement	/......................./
Mother’s gaze	(.......................)
Mother's hand movements	_......................._
Mother's gestures	+.......................+
Child’s speech	--.......................--
Child’s silence	.......................
Child’s head movements	//.......................//
Child’s gaze	((.......................))
Child’s hand movements	__......................__
Child’s gestures	++......................++

Vocal Pauses	Silences longer than 7 seconds were considered vocal pauses.
Gesture typology	The body gesture typology was analyzed, considering emblems, pantomimes, gestures of discomfort, gestures of happiness, filling gestures, among others that emerged
Eye Contact	The eye contact was analyzed in seconds, and the addressing of the mother and child was also analyzed.
Exchange Times	The times of synchronous exchange in the dyads were marked.
Mother's' Touch	The mothers' touch belongs to the deictic gestures and sometimes plays a role as fillers within the typology, but it was analyzed separately from the typology for better sensory understanding in the cases.

Age range	Cases	Mother’s Silences	Mother’s Gestures	Mother’s Speech	Mother’s gaze	Child’s silences	Child’s Speech	Dyad’s Eye contact	Child’s gesture-vocal synchrony
1	R	0	9	60	31	6	24	6	7
1	B	0	27	63	23	5	49	10	8
2	R	0	15	54	17	6	5	3	0
2	B	0	4	52	33	4	27	11	4
3	R	0	26	59	14	4	18	3	12
3	B	0	13	48	9	4	31	6	12
4	R	0	27	50	15	8	17	5	2
4	B	0	20	77	17	9	26	11	7
5	R	2	11	54	27	6	11	4	5
5	B	0	15	60	27	2	39	12	26
6	R	0	8	69	30	8	15	1	8
6	B	0	21	48	36	1	32	15	20

expression	R1	B1	R2	B2	R3	B3	R4	R5	B5	R6	B6
Smile/happiness	0	6	0	10	8	8	4	0	1	6	1
complaint/nervous	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Uncomfortable/discomfort	2	0	3	0	9	0	2	1	0	2	0
scare/defense	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
sadness	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Multimodal transcriptions
Age range 1- case R	Age range 1- case B
MR- Come on and play a little, are you lazy?	MB-nhammmm-
(she looks at his foot, look at his leg )	/ Leave B.'s head in a firm position /
(she looks at the child)	_ the mother takes her hands back and makes movements in the air _
	+ the mother makes a pantomime gesture of a walking spider +
	(the mother looks at the child's feet)
R// he turnr your head to the left //	B-- Vocalization with vowel aaaa--
((He looks at another point on the left ))	((B looks at his mother smiling and enjoying the contact))

MR_ Lower her hands _ (she looks down)	MB- I'm going to pick up the little baby -
- where's the baby screaming ahh?	_ she picks up the child's feet and caresses them _(she looks at the child's face)
(she looks at the child )
Age range 6- case R	Age range 6- case B
R((he looks at the other toys on the floor))	B --“gr ahhhh u gr ahh u” dinosaur onomatopoeia --
++ he makes a gesture of pain reaction ++	++ pantomime gesture of dinosaur attacking++
Child speech-gesture synchrony__ he touches the floor with his left hand_	Gesture-vocal synchrony
MR_ with the other hand, she presents the toy and gives it to the child__	MB_ she makes the doll swing on the floor _
R((he closes his eyes))	B__ he quickly moves dinosaur in the air __
R((he closes his eyes))	((he looks at the toys on the floor))

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[1] m=months d=days min=minutes sec=seconds

Age range	Cases	Mother’s Silences	Mother’s Gestures	Mother’s Speech	Mother’s gaze	Child’s silences	Child’s Speech	Dyad’s Eye contact	Child’s gesture-vocal synchrony
1	R	0	9	60	31	6	24	6	7
1	B	0	27	63	23	5	49	10	8
2	R	0	15	54	17	6	5	3	0
2	B	0	4	52	33	4	27	11	4
3	R	0	26	59	14	4	18	3	12
3	B	0	13	48	9	4	31	6	12
4	R	0	27	50	15	8	17	5	2
4	B	0	20	77	17	9	26	11	7
5	R	2	11	54	27	6	11	4	5
5	B	0	15	60	27	2	39	12	26
6	R	0	8	69	30	8	15	1	8
6	B	0	21	48	36	1	32	15	20

Age range	Cases	Mother’s Silences	Mother’s Gestures	Mother’s Speech	Mother’s gaze	Child’s silences	Child’s Speech	Dyad’s Eye contact	Child’s gesture-vocal synchrony
1	R	0	9	60	31	6	24	6	7
1	B	0	27	63	23	5	49	10	8
2	R	0	15	54	17	6	5	3	0
2	B	0	4	52	33	4	27	11	4
3	R	0	26	59	14	4	18	3	12
3	B	0	13	48	9	4	31	6	12
4	R	0	27	50	15	8	17	5	2
4	B	0	20	77	17	9	26	11	7
5	R	2	11	54	27	6	11	4	5
5	B	0	15	60	27	2	39	12	26
6	R	0	8	69	30	8	15	1	8
6	B	0	21	48	36	1	32	15	20

Age range	Cases	Mother’s Silences	Mother’s Gestures	Mother’s Speech	Mother’s gaze	Child’s silences	Child’s Speech	Dyad’s Eye contact	Child’s gesture-vocal synchrony
1	R	0	9	60	31	6	24	6	7
1	B	0	27	63	23	5	49	10	8
2	R	0	15	54	17	6	5	3	0
2	B	0	4	52	33	4	27	11	4
3	R	0	26	59	14	4	18	3	12
3	B	0	13	48	9	4	31	6	12
4	R	0	27	50	15	8	17	5	2
4	B	0	20	77	17	9	26	11	7
5	R	2	11	54	27	6	11	4	5
5	B	0	15	60	27	2	39	12	26
6	R	0	8	69	30	8	15	1	8
6	B	0	21	48	36	1	32	15	20