Adding on gestures: A brief video intervention for families on the benefits of gestures

Gestures support cognitive processing during learning, particularly in mathematics. This study investigates how parents and children use gestures during arithmetic activities and whether a brief video intervention could lead to differences in their communicative behaviors and gesture use. Fifty-one parent-child dyads (ages 3–5 years) were randomly assigned to view one of two videos: one highlighting the benefits of gestures (gesture-focused condition) or one about the benefits of talking during play (talk-focused condition). Compared to families who watched the video encouraging general talk, families who viewed the gesture-focused video showed distinct patterns in their math interactions. Children in the gesture condition used more gestures overall and, in particular, more math-related gestures. Moreover, both parents and children in this condition were more likely to produce the specific hold-up/down finger gestures targeted in the intervention. There were also condition differences with parents in the gesture-focused condition encouraging their children to use more gestures during math than those in the talk condition. These findings suggest that brief, targeted interventions can effectively influence the use of specific multimodal communication strategies in parent-child interactions. • Parents and children watched a brief video about the benefits of gestures or talk. • In arithmetic tasks, children in gesture-condition produced more gestures overall. • Children in the gesture condition produced more math-related gestures. • Families in the gesture condition use more holding up/down fingers gestures. • Parents in the gesture group more often encouraged their children to use gestures.