Speech Language & Down Syndrome Abstracts
Infant-Toddler Intervention 8 (2): 109-125 (1998)
Effects of Using Interactive Focused Stimulation for Teaching Vocabultary to Children with Down Syndrome
Luigi Girolametto, Elaine Weitzman, Jill Clements-Baartman
Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This study explores the effects of training parents to administer focused stimulation intervention to teach specific target words to toddlers with Down syndrome. Twelve mothers and their preschool-aged children were individually assigned to treatment and control groups. Vocabulary targets were individually selected for each child based on the child's phonetic repertoire and parent report of vocabulary development. Mothers were taught to use the targets while following the child's lead in terms of topic and activity. Following treatment, mothers in the experimental group used the focused stimulation technique more often than mothers in the control group. Concomitantly, their children used more targets as determined by parental report and free-play interaction. Mothers did not reduce their complexity or rate of interaction, nor did children demonstrate generalization of their targets in a semistructured probe. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the role of focused stimulation intervention for children with Down syndrome.
17th Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (1996 June 7-8)
Fast Mapping of Novel Words by Children and Adolescents with Down Syndrome
Robin S. Chapman, Suzanne Miller, Heidi Sindberg, Hye-Kyeung Seung
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The ability of 35 children and adolescents with Down syndrome to learn novel words for novel objects was assessed in six fast mapping tasks in which children hid three of six objects (two familiar, one novel and unnamed) on the first trial and the other three (two familiar, one novel and named) on the second. Children with Down syndrome (56%) and MLU matched controls (44%) comprehended fewer novel words than mental age matched controls (76%). Production of novel words (25%) did not differ, though it fell between that of an MLU-matched group (14%) and the mental age group (39%). DS and syntax-comprehension matched groups did not differ. DS fast-mapping comprehension was predicted by syntax comprehension; production scores were predicted by auditory short-term memory span. These results implicate the articulatory loop of a working memory model in the production deficits of children with Down syndrome.
Journal of Early Intervention 20 (3): 211-221 (1996 Summer)
The Initial Growth of Expressive Vocabulary among Children with Down Syndrome
Hart, Betty
Univerity of Kansas
Longitudinal data on the unstructured interactions at home of 9 children with Down syndrome were used to compare individual differences in initial expressive vocabulary growth to group data identically collected longitudinally on children without disabilities. The overall pattern of vocabulary growth was similar in all the children. Among the children with Down syndrome, differences in initial learning strategies, an asynchrony between growth of vocabulary and MLU, and differences between individual children of as long as 2 years in producing the first 50 words of expressive vocabulary were seen. Implications of intervention are discussed.
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 38 (5): 1037-44 (1995 Oct)
Validity of parent report measures of vocabulary development for children with Down syndrome
Miller, J.F., et al.
Evaluation of the validity of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences with 44 children with Down syndrome and 48 typically developing children established the validity of this parental measure of vocabulary development for children with Down syndrome and confirmed its validity for typically developing children.
Down's Syndrome: Research and Practice 1 (1): 15-28 (1993 Feb)
Investigation of the articulatory patterns of young adults with Down syndrome using electropalatography
Hamilton, Christine
Child Development Centre, St. Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, UK
Tongue movements for speech in three adults with Down syndrome and one normal speaking control were investigated using electropalatography (EPG) and diadochokinetic rate (DDK) techniques. The subjects with Down syndrome all showed substantially larger areas of tongue-palate contact compared with the control subject for alveolar sounds /t, d, n, l/, and differences in fricative articulation. Undershoot (incomplete closure) was a feature of velar articulations /k, g/ in the subjects with Down syndrome. Longer closure duration, longer consonant transition times within clusters and consistently slower DDK rates were also noted. Asymmetry and variability were evident in two of the subjects with Down Syndrome. The results support the hypothesis that people with Down syndrome have difficulties with coordinating the rapid tongue movements necessary for clear speech with impaired tongue motility and motor programming as well as phonological delay. Implications for treatment are discussed.
ASHA 32 (9): 42-44 (1990 Sep)
Down Syndrome. Effects on Language Development
Shimada, Shoko
The newly formed picture that emerges from these recent investigations of language in children with Down syndrome must include the following: (a) language production among children with Down syndrome lags behind expected performance based on mental age; (b) in many children with Down syndrome language production skills are not commensurate with comprehension skills; the number of subjects who exhibit this uneven profile increases with age; (c) lexical and syntactic development are asynchronous in Down syndrome with syntax lagging behind; and (d) syntactic development, as measured by MLU, is characterized by periods of relatively rapid linear growth alternating with extended plateaus. Although answering some questions, these findings raise new issues that must be addressed. However, it seems clear that the traditional "slow-but-normal" characterization of the language of children with Down syndrome is no longer tenable. Instead, we must begin to think in terms of specific properties that are unique to the development of language by children with Down syndrome.
Am J Ment Defic 90 (2): 177-184 (1985 Sep)
Early vocabulary acquisition by children with Down syndrome
Cardoso-Martins C, Mervis CB, Mervis CA
Early acquisition of object names by 6 children with Down syndrome relative to the acquisition pattern of 6 nonretarded children was investigated. Each child was followed for 14 to 21 months. At the start of the study the children with Down syndrome were 17 to 19 months old. The nonretarded children were 9 months old. Results indicated that the children with Down syndrome were at the same level of cognitive development as the nonretarded children at the onset of both comprehension and production of object names. Soon after language acquisition began, however, the language development of the Down syndrome group began to lag behind their cognitive development: Level of vocabulary development was lower than would have been expected based on level of cognitive development.
J Speech Hear Disord 46 (1): 46-51 (1981 Feb)
A Comparative Study of Pre-meaningful Vocalizations Produced by Normally Developing and Down's Syndrome Infants
Smith BL, Oller DK
Pre-meaningful vocalizations produced by nine normally developing and 10 Down's syndrome infants were recorded as part of a longitudinal study of language development. The recordings were phonetically transcribed using a modified version of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Data were analyzed in terms of (1) age at onset of reduplicated babbling (2) developmental trends for place of consonant articulation, and (3) developmental aspects of vocalic productions. In general, substantial similarities between the two groups of infants were observed with regard to the selected parameters. Both groups began to produce canonical, reduplicated babbling at 8-8½ months of age, and trends regarding consonantal and vocalic development for the two groups were very similar during approximately the first 15 months of life.