The relationship between language and symbolic gesture was studied in a group of young children who were in the lowest 10% for language production for their age based on information obtained from language inventories filled out by their parents. On a single scheme imitation task, designed to be a gestural analog of lexical production, subjects performed like controls matched for language production. On a multischeme imitation task, designed to be a gestural analog of syntax, subjects performed like age-matched controls, and significantly better than language-matched controls. Potential reasons for this dissociation are discussed in the context of predictors of early language success or impairment.
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Thal et al. (1988) studied this question.