Although research on young children's emotion regulation has increased in the recent years, there is still little known about how toddlers use both gestures and emerging language for self-regulation. Previous research has shown that as oral language abilities develop children are able to use more proactive regulation strategies, and it has been shown that children can use symbolic gestures to communicate at a younger age than they can use oral language for communication. Therefore it is important to examine children's oral language as well as their use of gestures because it is possible that children may be able to use symbolic gestures to employ proactive regulation strategies at an earlier age. The current study aims to describe toddlers' use of symbols - in the forms of both symbolic gestures and words - to employ complex and diverse regulation strategies. Seventeen toddlers between 11 and 28 months old were observed in a childcare setting where symbolic gestures were used as part of the daily routine. Ninety observations took place during typical routines which could be emotionally evoking and thus could require children to employ coping strategies. Results showed that toddlers use gestures more frequently than words when they were distressed. Further, younger toddlers used significantly more unique regulation strategies when communicating through gestures than they did when communicating through words. Findings suggest that symbolic gestures may provide children with opportunities to employ more regulation strategies than language alone which may ultimately enhance children's abilities to self-regulate.
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