Researchers from the University of Chicago recently released a study that emphasizes the importance of gesturing with your children as a means to communicate. Laura Westberg, director of Special Projects/Research at the National Center for Family Literacy, says it is common for young children to learn to communicate before they can talk.

"I think gesturing serves as a scaffold for learning vocabulary," says Westberg. "It might be seen as a language scaffold that assists in understanding the meaning of words. Much like how we connect the symbols of language (letters) with the sounds of our language to learn how to read, children are connecting another type of symbol (gesture) associated with a word that is spoken to understand the meaning of the word. Parent responses to the use of gestures in appropriate ways help to increase children's understanding of the words which, in turn, builds their vocabulary."

Parent interest and involvement encourages children to use gestures and words more. Westberg says it's almost like playing the game charades where older children and adults use gesturing symbols to elicit meaning from others. Gesturing and discerning meaning from those gestures are embedded in our culture.

Kimberly Arana, mother of two from Ferndale, Calif., used gesturing and sign extensively with her first child. She believes this encouraged her child's communication and helped build a larger vocabulary. "People constantly comment on the rather large vocabulary, as well as comprehension, that my daughter had at a very young age," says Arana. "I find this to be true now, at age 5. This really opened my eyes as a first-time parent to just how intelligent and aware children are at a very young age."

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