Language learning and retention in young language-disordered children.

Saunders et al. (1988) worked with 21 nonverbal preschoolers who had autism, intellectual disability, or other delays. The team taught each child new words by saying the word and making the sign at the same time. They tracked how many words each child learned and then checked again six months later to see if the kids still knew the words.

Seventeen of the 21 children learned at least one new word. Most kids still had those words in their vocabulary six months after teaching ended. The study showed that pairing sign and speech can jump-start language in children who had not spoken before.

Baer et al. (1984) tried the same sign-plus-speech idea four years earlier with three minimally verbal children and also saw better sentence copying than speech alone. Mason et al. (2021) later replaced signs with a fast-paced verbal-behavior package and got bigger, faster gains in 49 children, showing the field has moved beyond adding signs. Bosseler et al. (2003) swapped the human signs for a computer-animated tutor and still kept the strong vocabulary retention, proving the key is clear multimodal input, not the exact tool.

If you have a silent preschooler on your caseload, try presenting the label with both a spoken word and a simple sign. This low-cost move can give the child an extra cue to latch onto, and the gains are likely to stick. While newer methods like Mason et al. (2021) may work faster, the old sign-plus-speech trick is still an easy first step you can start tomorrow.