Talking about self and other: Emergence of an internal state lexicon in young children with

Down syndrome

The ability to talk about the internal states (IS) of self and other is an age-typical development of early childhood that is thought to reflect young children's emergent self–other understanding. This study examined the emergence of an IS lexicon in a cross-sectional sample of young children with Down syndrome (DS) and a cognitively and demographically comparable group of normally developing (ND) children. Children's IS lexicons were derived from transcripts of their spontaneous utterances during two laboratory contexts: a mother–child emotions picture book task and semistructured play. Children with DS produced significantly fewer IS words and fewer IS word types than their MA-matched counterparts. Controlling for corpus size, children with DS also were less likely to attribute internal states to themselves and were more context bound in their use of IS language. In addition, children with DS also differed from ND children in the semantic content of their IS language, with proportionately higher rates of affective words and lower rates for words about volition, ability, and cognition. For both the DS and ND groups, individual differences in IS language production were significantly related to general expressive language skills. However, dissociations were observed for the relation between children's IS word production and nonverbal symbolic play skills in the two groups. These findings suggest some degree of disorganization at the interface among symbolic domains for children with DS. Because IS language is critical to the regulation of social interaction and an early index of self–other differentiation and understanding, children with DS may be at risk for later compromises in self-organization.

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Child maltreatment, attachment, and the self system: Emergence of an internal state lexicon in toddlers at high social risk

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s095457940000585x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 5-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 156

Author(s):

Marjorie Beeghly ◽

Dante Cicchetti

Keyword(s):

Child Maltreatment ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Language Production ◽

Risk Model ◽

Internal State ◽

Cumulative Risk ◽

Protective Mechanism ◽

Social Risk ◽

Self And Other ◽

Internal States

AbstractThe ability to talk about the internal states (ISs) and feelings of self and other is an age-appropriate development of late toddlerhood hypothesized to reflect toddlers' emergent self–other understanding and to be fundamental to the regulation of social interaction. This study examined the effects of child maltreatment on the emergence of low-socioeconomic status 30-month-old toddlers' IS lexicons. Children's lexicons were derived both from maternal interviews and from observations of children's spontaneous IS utterances in four laboratory contexts. Results from both data sources indicated that maltreated toddlers produced significantly fewer IS words, fewer IS word types, and proportionately fewer IS words denoting physiological states and negative affect than nonmaltreated toddlers. In addition, maltreated toddlers were more context bound in IS language use and more restricted in their attributions of internal states to self and other. Gender differences were also observed. Individual differences in children's IS language production were significantly related to general linguistic maturity in both groups but to toddlers' conversational skills only in the comparison group. In addition, a cumulative risk model describing the effects of the child's attachment relationship with the caregiver on early IS language was tested. Toddlers most severely at risk (maltreated/insecure) had the most compromised IS language. Thus, secure attachment may serve as a protective mechanism against self-dysfunction in maltreated toddlers.

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Experiencing contingency and agency

Interaction Studies ◽

10.1075/is.6.3.09nad ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 447-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Jacqueline Nadel ◽

Ken Prepin ◽

Mako Okanda

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Young Children ◽

Sense Of Self ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Sense Of Agency ◽

Human Beings ◽

Step Process ◽

Self And Other ◽

Children With Down Syndrome ◽

Social Contingency

Precursors of inferential capacities concerning self- and other- understanding may be found in the basic experience of social contingency and emotional sharing. The emergence of a sense of self- and other-agency receives special attention here, as a foundation for self-understanding. We propose that synchrony, an amodal parameter of contingent self-other relationships, should be especially involved in the development of a sense of agency. To explore this framework, we have manipulated synchrony in various ways, either by delaying mother’s response to infant’s behaviour, disorganizing mother’s internal synchrony between face and voice, freezing the partner in a still attitude, or on the contrary maximizing synchrony through imitation. We report results obtained with healthy and clinical populations that are supposed to be at the beginning of basic experiences concerning the ownership of their actions: infants of 2 months and 6 months, low-functioning children with autism and MA matched young children with Down Syndrome. Our results support the idea of a two-step process linking understanding of self to understanding of other and leading on to form the concept of human beings as universally contingent entities.

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