Gestures are the baby's first form of communication, even long before they learn to pronounce their first words. Until they are able to do it through words, babies speak through gestures. A smile, saying "yes" or "no" with your head or a look can be just as effective in making yourself understood.
Gesture language accelerates speech learning. This is what two psychologists at the University of Chicago have confirmed, who say that Children who communicate with a wide range of gestures at the age of 14 months have a greater vocabulary at the age of 4 years.
It is an interesting finding for us to promote the gestural communication of our children, but the scientists also found a great difference in the gestural expression of children depending on the socio-economic level of the family.
Children living in families with a better socio-economic level used at least 24 different gestures to communicate with each other, compared to 13 average gestures used by children from less wealthy families.
They believe that it could be because the parents of the first group have, in general, more time than the second to spend with their children, stimulate them and talk with them.
The funny thing is that in children of 14 months, age in which there are no socio-economic differences in their speech there are in their gestures.
It seems that the more we talk with our children, tell them stories and stimulate their form of gestural communication since they are young, the more we will be contributing to expand their vocabulary and improve their verbal communication, which results in an improvement of their own self-esteem and Its integral development.
