Understanding sign-augmented language learning in parent-child dyads: what can we learn from the embodied experiences of young children with Down synd

智力残疾通常与语言延迟有关，这种延迟通常在生命早期出现，但对早期干预有反应。有很多证据表明，用手形符号（如Makaton）来增强交流，可以促进智力残疾幼儿的表达性语言发展。然而，尽管在这个群体中，符号增强交流具有证据优势和普遍使用，但目前对其发展所涉及的特定学习过程的研究有限。头戴式眼动追踪技术具有革命性的意义，它使我们能够捕捉儿童在与父母的日常互动中的每时每刻的目光。除了了解儿童在日常社交活动中的注意力之外，人们还清楚地认识到需要了解运动活动如何有助于社交。孩子不是被动地接受来自环境的输入，而是主动地产生输入。例如，拿着或伸手去拿一个物体可以把它带到孩子的视线中，同时也为父母提供了一个明显的线索，告诉他们注意力在哪里。对典型发育儿童的研究在亲子互动中使用了头戴式眼动跟踪，以确定注意力和运动模式何时以及如何相交，以创造理想的口语学习时刻，目前正在对患有神经发育障碍的儿童进行研究。然而，到目前为止，这项研究忽略了符号增强语言，尽管它在智障儿童中普遍使用。因此，我的博士项目对智障儿童获得符号增强语言的注意力和运动过程感兴趣，在亲子互动中使用头戴式眼动跟踪。这项研究将特别关注唐氏综合症儿童，因为唐氏综合症是与智力残疾相关的最常见的遗传综合症。通过了解更多关于手语如何发展的每时每刻，我们希望为家长和从业者提供如何更好地支持儿童语言学习的信息。

Intellectual disability is often associated with language delay, which commonly emerges early in life but is responsive to early intervention. There is much evidence to suggest that augmenting communication with manual signs, such as Makaton, can facilitate expressive language development in young children with intellectual disability. However, despite the evidential benefits and popular usage of sign-augmented communication within this group, there is currently limited research on the specific learning processes involved in its development.Language development is an inherently social process. Head-mounted eye-tracking has been transformative in enabling us to capture the moment-by-moment gaze of children in their everyday interactions with their parents as their main social partners. Beyond understanding where children are looking during their everyday social interactions, there has been a clear recognition of the need to understand how motor activity contributes to social interaction. Children do not passively receive input from their environment, but actively generate it. For instance, holding or reaching for an object can bring it into the child's line of vision, while simultaneously provide a salient cue to their parent as to where their attention lies. Research with typically developing children has used head-mounted eye-tracking during parent-child interaction to identify when and how attentional and motor patterns intersect to create ideal spoken-word learning moments, and this is currently being examined in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the research has so far omitted sign-augmented language, despite its prevalent usage by children with intellectual disability.My PhD project is therefore interested in the attentional and motor processes involved in the acquisition of sign-augmented language in young children with intellectual disability, using head-mounted eye-tracking during parent-child interaction. This research will specifically focus on children with Down syndrome, as the most common known genetic syndrome associated with intellectual disability. Through understanding more about how sign-augmented language develops moment-by moment, we hope to provide parents and practitioners with information on how to better support children's language learning.