Welcome to the Infant Communication Lab
The Infant Communication Lab studies the development of gesture and language in infants and toddlers. We do this primarily by observing babies as they play with familiar adults in their own homes. To babies, our research is just playtime!
Our current projects focus on:
- Babies’ early vocalizations and their relationship to motor activity
- Changes in gesture use as children’s language develops
- Parents’ use of gestures when talking to their children
- Parents’ interpretation of their children’s gestures
- Early vocal, motor, and communicative development in infants at risk for Autism
Featured Research From Our Lab
- Learning to talk in a gesture-rich world: Early communication of Italian vs. American children. Cultural variation in gesture use is evident even in the communication of young toddlers.
- Variation in vocal-motor development in infant siblings of children with autism. Early motor and vocal development in high-risk infant siblings as an indicator of a future autism diagnosis.
- Gesture paves the way for language development. How children use gestures with speech predicts the transition to two-word combinations.