24 Gesture Cues
Definition
Using a gesture to direct a student’s attention without giving additional verbal information.
In action
Gesture cues can include use of pointing, invented or established signs (i.e., sign language), or proximity (e.g., standing by the door as a cue for the class to line up). The teacher can familiarize the student (and the whole class) with specific gestural cues to help communicate meaning.
Support Strategies
- Provide specific cues to communicate with all students, such as by lowering their hands when the class should lower the volume of their voices.
- Use consistency of routines (e.g., reading a story in the same spot every time)
- Provide visual reminders (e.g., anchor charts) of gesture cues and their meanings.
- Promote the use of gesture cues in the classroom by having students use it to communicate basic requests (e.g., creating a gesture that students can use when students need a break)
- Make us of naturally occurring or organic gesture cues
- Incorporate gesture cues in instruction and modeling of non-verbal receptive and expressive communication
Case Study
Student: Grade 4 student at the beginning of the day
Content: The class always starts their day with the literacy block, and students choose from five independent activities each morning (e.g., read to self).
Problem: The student is excited about their book and trying to tell a peer about what happened in the previous chapter.
Solution: The teacher holds up a book to redirect the student’s attention to reminder independent reading activity.
Additional Resources
- List of nonverbal cues that can be used in the classroom, such as ASL from UT Permian Basin
- Resource guide outlining strategies for success (including the use of cues in the classroom) for students with ASD from Autism Speaks
- Description of cues and prompts from Alberta Ministry of Education
- Hierarchy of prompting showing where gestures fit in (includes examples) from NPRInc
- List and video of gestural cue examples from Understood.org
