Background and aims Young children use deictic gestures, such as pointing, to indicate referents in their immediate environment. Early deictic gesture use is important in facilitating the development of language. In toddlers with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder, the emergence and use of gestures may be delayed, and deficits in deictic gesture may inform clinical practice regarding early identification, differential diagnosis, and early intervention. The aim of this scoping review was to investigate the extent to which deictic gesture use has been examined in young children with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder ≤ 36 months of age. Methods Four databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC) were comprehensively searched for relevant articles. Articles were reviewed in two phases: titles and abstracts followed by full text. Key variables related to participant/study characteristics and group differences on deictic gesture use were extracted. A narrative review was used to synthesize findings across studies. Main contribution Nineteen studies met inclusion criteria – 12 studies of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder and 7 studies of high-risk infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Overall, toddlers with autism spectrum disorder were found to demonstrate reduced gesture use across deictic gesture types and ages compared to those with typical development. Findings were more variable when comparing toddlers with autism spectrum disorder to those with other developmental delays and in high-risk infant sibling studies. Although only measured in a limited number of studies, results suggest differences in gesture use in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder based on communicative function. Conclusions This review provides insight into the gesture use of toddlers with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder. Results indicate the particular types of deictic gestures that may be delayed and the age ranges we might expect to observe these deficits in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder compared to those with typical development and other developmental delay groups. Results also reveal variability across studies in the measurement of gestures, and highlight where gaps remain in understanding deictic gesture use in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Implications Findings have research and clinical implications related to profiling and targeting gesture use as part of the assessment and treatment process, including identifying patterns of strength and weakness in deictic gesture use of young children with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍患儿或有自闭症谱系障碍风险的幼儿使用姿势性手势的范围回顾

背景和目标幼儿使用诸如指向之类的姿势来指示其周围环境中的对象。尽早使用专用手势对促进语言发展很重要。在患有自闭症谱系障碍或处于自闭症谱系障碍风险中的幼儿中，手势的出现和使用可能会延迟，并且干手势的缺陷可能会为临床实践提供有关早期识别，鉴别诊断和早期干预的信息。这项范围回顾的目的是调查在≤36个月大的自闭症谱系障碍儿童中或处于危险之中的幼儿对使用奉献手势的程度进行检查。方法全面检索四个数据库（PubMed，PsycINFO，CINAHL和ERIC）的相关文章。文章分为两个阶段进行评审：标题和摘要，然后是全文。提取了与参与者/研究特征和小组使用手势姿势的差异有关的关键变量。叙述性综述用于综合研究结果。主要贡献有19项研究符合入选标准-12项关于自闭症谱系障碍的学步儿童的研究和7项关于被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍的孩子的高风险婴儿兄弟姐妹的研究。总体而言，发现自闭症谱系障碍的幼儿与典型发育者相比，在各种姿势类型和年龄中的手势使用减少。在将自闭症谱系障碍的幼儿与其他发育迟缓的幼儿进行比较时，以及在高风险的婴儿同级研究中，发现的变化更大。尽管仅在有限的研究中进行了测量，结果表明，基于沟通功能的自闭症谱系障碍儿童的手势使用方式有所不同。结论本综述提供了对自闭症谱系障碍或有风险的幼儿的手势使用的见解。结果表明，与典型发育和其他发育迟缓组相比，自闭症谱系障碍幼儿的特定姿势可能会延迟，我们可能期望观察到这些缺陷。结果还揭示了手势测量中各个研究的差异性，并突出了自闭症谱系障碍幼儿在理解奉献性手势使用方面仍存在差距。隐含的发现与评估和针对手势的使用有关，在评估和治疗过程中具有研究和临床意义，