Aug 2026· Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research· pp.
1-22
· 0 citations· 69 references
Medicine
Abstract
Aim
This study investigated how infants' simultaneous multimodal behaviors (SMBs)-the concurrent coordination of vocal, gaze, facial, and manual signals-are organized during natural caregiver-infant interactions at 3 and 6 months. Within a contingency-based framework, we examined how perception-based and production-based SMBs reflect early multisensory and sensorimotor coordination and how these patterns relate to later language development with the aim of characterizing SMBs as functional units of early communicative organization.
Method
Twenty typically developing Hebrew-learning infants were recorded in naturalistic mother-infant interactions at 3 and 6 months and were assessed for language outcomes at 15 months using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Frame-by-frame multimodal coding was conducted using Mangold INTERACT software. Each frame was annotated across four channels (verbal, gaze, facial, manual), yielding 180 theoretically possible SMBs. Frequency, total duration, mean duration, and prevalence were derived. Age-related differences were tested, and principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to identify latent clusters of SMBs.
Results
Infants produced roughly one third of the theoretically possible combinations, indicating constraints on early multimodal integration. A small subset of SMBs (≈20%) accounted for the majority of occurrences, following a Pareto-like distribution. Between 3 and 6 months, patterns shifted from face gaze and tactile configurations toward gaze shift and exploratory coordination. PCA revealed five factors at each age; several integrated perception-based and production-based SMBs. Notably, the first factor at 3 months-comprising mixed SMBs with neutral facial expression, gaze shift, and phasic hand movements-was positively correlated with productive vocabulary at 15 months.
Conclusions
Infants' multimodal communication is selectively organized around high-probability behavioral anchors that integrate perception-based and production-based contingencies. These early configurations structure infants' interactional experience, support contingency learning, and are prospectively associated with later expressive language development, providing a systems-level account of early communication that bridges dynamic, social-pragmatic, and emergentist learning approaches.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33307341.
Human communication is grounded in social interaction, and infants begin to communicate before producing their first words. In interaction with caregivers, they engage in coordinated object-related activities that may develop into paired-action sequences. We studied the emergence of such sequences in eight infant-caregiver dyads observed during monthly laboratory visits across 6 months, beginning when infants were either 7 or 8 months old. During free play with age-appropriate toys, interactions were documented using microbehavioral manual coding, enabling detailed analysis of infant-initiated, object-related joint activities. A recurrent pattern involved infants throwing an object and caregivers responding by returning it, giving rise to throwing-and-passing sequences, sometimes accompanied by coordinated gaze. Due to the less scripted and less conventionalized nature of this sequence, we observed substantial variability across dyads and sessions. To complement behavioral description, we used computer vision-based tracking of infants' object-holding hand movements and identified developmental changes in movement kinematics, specifically decreases in speed and acceleration. Our documentation of the earliest infant-initiated, object-related joint activities demonstrates that the observed throwing-and-passing sequences represent early manifestations of paired-action sequences and include elements of intentional communication.
A. Białek, Wim Pouw, B. Owoyele et al.· Infancy· 0 citations
This study collected cross-sectional data on the social, communicative, pragmatic, and linguistic abilities of typically developing 12- to 37-month-old children. A preliminary literature review indicated that no observational tool with robust psychometric properties is currently available to assess communication and language in this age range. To address this gap, a coding scheme was employed on data from 91 typically developing Italian children (all with expressive vocabulary above the 10th percentile), who were divided into 3 groups (G1:12–17 months; G2:18–23 months; G3:24–37 months). Videotaped parent–child play interactions were analyzed to assess communicative frequency, gaze-related communicative prerequisites, communicative roles, communicative functions, and language complexity. Significant group differences and correlations with age and vocabulary were identified, including a reduction in assertiveness and requesting functions and an increase in responsiveness and declarative functions. The developmental progression of linguistic complexity is consistent with the previous literature, supporting the validity of the study and offering implications for both clinical practice and research.
D. Sarti, Claudia Maggiulli, G. Airaghi et al.· First language· 0 citations
PURPOSE
Understanding how children's spontaneous language behavior relates to standardized metrics of speech and language remains a crucial challenge in studies of language acquisition and clinical assessment. Traditional lab- and clinic-based paradigms are time- and resource-intensive and may not fully capture a child's underlying language competencies. This study aimed to investigate whether automated analysis of naturalistic, child-centered audio recordings can index the developmental trajectory of speech-language abilities from 2 to 5 years of age.
METHOD
A longitudinal design was employed with N = 155 preschoolers, who were followed from 2 to 5 years of age. Deep learning speech classification methods were used to compute canonical proportion-the proportion of a child's speech that is produced as canonical syllables (well-formed syllables with a consonant-vowel transition, such as "ba"), a key marker of speech motor control development and phonological representation building-from child-centered audio recordings collected at 2-4 years of age. Standardized lab-based assessments of speech and language development were administered concurrently and 1 year later at 2-5 years of age.
RESULTS
Canonical proportion measures significantly predicted multiple dimensions of later speech-language development. The strongest longitudinal associations were observed for consonant articulation skill and vocabulary size. Weaker, although still significant, relationships were found for metaphonological skills, including phonological awareness and phonological working memory.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that children's spontaneous, everyday speech production patterns provide moderate indices of subsequent language development across multiple domains. Automated measures such as canonical proportion hold promise for expanding and diversifying approaches to studying language acquisition and for complementing traditional lab-based assessments.
C. Ott, Margaret Cychosz· Journal of Speech, Language...· 1 citation
Attention regulation is foundational to early development and underpins the emergence of executive function. The present study draws on the Learning by Observing and Pitching In framework to investigate how Bangladeshi parents in a resource-constrained urban community scaffold infants' attention and emerging executive function. To contextualize Bangladeshi parent-infant interactions, we included a descriptive comparison with families of mid-socioeconomic status from Boston, United States. We coded parent-infant interactions at 12 months along two dimensions of parental scaffolding (modality: elicitation of verbal or nonverbal attentional engagement; shared engagement: following or redirecting) and characterized infants' joint-attention initiation and response. Within the Bangladeshi cohort, infants' attention orienting was assessed using a disengagement eye-tracking paradigm, and working memory and inhibition at 24 months were measured using the Spin-the-Pots and Glitter Wand tasks. The findings indicate that Bangladeshi parents elicited more nonverbal engagement and redirected more often than U.S. parents and Bangladeshi infants more often initiated joint attention nonverbally and less often verbally than U.S. infants. Within the Bangladeshi cohort, parental elicitation of nonverbal engagement positively related to 12-month attention orienting. Parental following at 12 months positively predicted 24-month working memory, and parental redirecting positively predicted 24-month inhibition. These findings extend the Learning by Observing and Pitching In framework to a developmental period and cultural context in which it has not previously been examined and underscore that the developmental implications of scaffolding practices depend on the cultural ecology in which they unfold. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Ran Wei, Trevor Bissert, Krittika Paul et al.· Developmental Psychology· 0 citations
This study explores the link between repairs and gestures in children's speech. Although (dis)fluency markers (repetitions, filled/silent pauses, repairs) are common in
typically developing
children's speech (
Lickley, 2017
), many studies focused on adults’ repairs (
Penttilä et al., 2022
;
Roberts et al., 2009
) and the use of gesture during (dis)fluent speech (
Graziano & Gullberg, 2018
;
Seyfeddinipur, 2006
), but we know little about children's multimodal repairs (
Morgenstern et al., 2013
). In this study, 20 French-speaking 7- to-10-year-old children were video-recorded while spontaneously interacting with one of their parents. Self-repairs and other-repairs (lexical, phonological, morphosyntactic) and gestures (referential, non-referential) were coded based on their type. Gestures synchronized with the repair were coded to account for multimodal patterns. Results show that children produced more speech-only lexical self-repairs, enhancing word retrieval. Children also relied more on non-referential beats and iconic gestures during the repair sequence. Thus, gestures are not only linked to discourse elaboration, but they are strongly intertwined with speech monitoring. Multimodal repairs allow speakers to signal the fact that a revision is taking place, therefore facilitating mutual understanding in interaction throughout nonverbal cues.
Corrado Bellifemine· Journal of Monolingual and B...· 0 citations
Reading aloud can be understood as a dialogic and multimodal practice that engages phonological, prosodic, and auditory-feedback systems. Neuroimaging studies suggest activation of a predominantly left-hemisphere reading network, with additional executive-control demands often observed in second language (L2) contexts. In first language (L1) settings, readaloud practices have been associated with vocabulary development, prosodic sensitivity, and socio-emotional engagement; in L2 settings, their effects appear to depend more strongly on learner profiles, task design, and instructional scaffolding. The production effect may support recall in L1 and, when embedded in repeated and meaning-oriented practice, may also contribute to fluency and comprehension in L2. This article offers a narrative review of the literature on reading aloud in L1 and L2 contexts, integrating neurocognitive, affective, and mnemonic dimensions to outline pedagogical implications for inclusive language education.
Claudia Capaci, Marika Cardinale, Gabriella Ferrara· Rivista Italiana di Educazio...· 0 citations