Children could be 'talking' using gestures far earlier than people thought, scientists find

Babies are “talking” to the parents in ways that we have probably been missing, according to scientists.

Subtle gestures and “micro-behaviours” look to be an early way of demonstrating attention-sharing, which is thought to be a key part of human language.

We are the only species who communicate by sharing our focus of attention, experts say. That might, for instance, be the way that we look where someone else is, or point someone towards an interesting object.

Researchers previously thought that this ability developed at around 10 to 12 months, where infants could be seen pointing at things with their index finger. But the new study looked at younger boys and girls and found that they might be making far less obvious “showing and giving gestures”.

The team of social scientists found that the gestures were strong predictors of how often infants used pointing when they were older.

Despite the behaviours being widespread, they often left parents puzzled.

Professor Elena Lieven, director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) International Centre for Language and Communicative Development at the universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster, said: "Our research demonstrates that babies may be doing more to communicate than many of us usually assume, and at an earlier age.

"By understanding these early behaviours, parents have a great opportunity to help support their children's later language development. Understanding babies' gestures could be just as important as understanding their early language."

As part of the study, the researchers analysed the responses of parents and caregivers to the babies' attention-sharing gestures.

The findings were presented at an ESRC Festival of Social Science event at the University of Manchester.

Prof Lieven added: "The ability to share and direct attention is an essential basis for typical language development, and others have found that it is often impaired in children on the autism spectrum.

"Our findings provide useful guidance to both researchers and caregivers in the identification of infants' early attempts to communicate about objects with their caregivers, and highlight the need for greater study of these early pre-linguistic behaviours."

Additional reporting by Press Association