March 23, 2025

The Power of Gestures

Gestures are crucial in language development, communication, and learning. Children rely on gestures to express thoughts, emotions meaning, interact with others, and intentions.

Why Are Gestures Powerful?

Early Communication: Use gestures like pointing, waving, or reaching before they can speak. This helps express needs and desires and interact with caregivers.

Supports Bilingual Learning: In multilingual environments, gestures help children navigate and differentiate between languages, helping comprehension and word recall.

Supports Understanding: Watching gestures helps children grasp new words and concepts, especially in language learning.

Encourages Social Interaction: Nonverbal cues like nodding, shaking hands, waving, or facial expressions help children engage in social interactions and build relationships.

Supports Speech Development: When paired with spoken words, gestures can reduce frustration for children who struggle to articulate thoughts, giving them an alternative way to communicate.

Simple ways to encourage gestures in children:

Use Gestures Naturally: Wave goodbye, clap, and point while speaking to reinforce meaning.

Encourage Imitation: Play games like “Simon Says” to teach children to copy and associate movements with words.

Use Gestures with Words: When teaching new vocabulary, use corresponding hand motions like making a “big” gesture with arms while saying “big”.

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