Language Skills of Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 861-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin S. Chapman ◽  
Hye-Kyeung Seung ◽  
Scott E. Schwartz ◽  
Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Control Sample ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Simple Sentences ◽  
Narrative Language

Hypotheses that children and adolescents with Down syndrome show (a) a specific expressive language impairment, (b) a "critical period" for language acquisition, (c) a "simple sentence syntactic ceiling" in production, and (d) deficit in grammatical morphology were investigated cross-sectionally. Conversational and narrative language samples from 47 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), aged 5 to 20 years, were compared to those from 47 control children aged 2 to 6 years matched statistically for nonverbal mental age. Children with Down syndrome appear to have a specific language impairment, compared to control children, in number of different words and total words (in the first 50 utterances) and in mean length of utterance (MLU). Total utterance attempts per minute were more frequent in the Down syndrome group. Narrative samples contained more word tokens, more word types, and longer MLU than conversation samples, for both groups. Intelligibility of narratives was significantly poorer for the Down syndrome group than controls. Analyses of narrative language sample by age sub-group showed no evidence of a critical period for language development ending at adolescence, nor of a "syntactic ceiling" at MLUs corresponding to simple sentences for the Down syndrome group. Omissions of word tokens and types were more frequent in the older Down syndrome than the younger control sample, matched on MLU.

scholarly journals Exploring Sentence Diversity at the Boundary of Typical and Impaired Language Abilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 3236-3251
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Developmental Patterns ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Archival Database ◽  
Simple Sentences

Purpose This review article summarizes programmatic research on sentence diversity in toddlers developing language typically and explores developmental patterns of sentence diversity in toddlers at risk for specific language impairment. Method The first half of this review article presents a sentence-focused approach to language assessment and intervention and reviews findings from empirical studies of sentence diversity. In the second half, subject and verb diversity in three simple sentence types are explored in an archival database of toddlers with varying levels of grammatical outcomes at 36 months of age: low average, mild/moderate delay, and severe delay. Results Descriptive findings from the archival database replicated previous developmental patterns. All toddlers with low-average language abilities produced diverse simple sentences by 30 months of age and exhibited greater sentence diversity with first-person I -subjects before third-person subjects. Third-person subject diversity emerged in a developmental sequence, increasing in one-argument copula contexts and one-argument subject–verb sentences before two-argument subject–verb–object sentences. This developmental pattern held across all three outcome groups. Third-person subjects were least diverse for children with severe grammatical delays and were absent in all sentence contexts for two children with severe delays at 36 months. Conclusions Sentence diversity increases gradually and expands in predictable patterns. Understanding these developmental patterns may help identify and treat children who display unexpected difficulty combining different subjects and verbs in flexible ways. Supplemental Material and Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12915320

scholarly journals Mean length utterance in Brazilian children: a comparative study between Down syndrome, specific language impairment, and typical language development

CoDAS ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Maria de Amorim Carvalho ◽  
Debora Maria Befi-Lopes ◽  
Suelly Cecília Olivan Limongi
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Mental Age

PURPOSE: To describe the linguistic performance of Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children with Down syndrome by analyzing their Mean Length Utterance; to compare their performance to that of children with Specific Language Impairment and Typical Development; and to verify whether children with Down syndrome present developmental language delay or disorder. METHOD: Participants were 25 children with Down syndrome (Research Group), matched by mental age to a Control Group of typically developing children, and to a Control Group of children with Specific Language Impairment. Participants were divided into subgroups, according to age range (three, four and five years). Speech samples were collected for the Research Group, and the Mean Length Utterance was analyzed for morphemes and words. RESULTS: Differences were observed between the performance of the Research Group and both Control Groups, and the former presented inferior Mean Length Utterance values for all age ranges, characterizing a delay in grammar and general language development. CONCLUSION: The description of the linguistic abilities of Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children with Down syndrome indicated important grammatical deficits, especially regarding the use of functional words.

Language in Italian children with Down syndrome and with specific language impairment.

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Caselli ◽  
Laura Monaco ◽  
Manuela Trasciani ◽  
Stefano Vicari
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Italian Children

Mathematical Abilities of Children With Specific Language Impairment

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara B. Fazio
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Mathematical Abilities ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Math Problems ◽  
Addition Facts

A 2-year follow-up of the mathematical abilities of young children with specific language impairment (SLI) is reported. To detect the nature of the difficulties children with SLI exhibited in mathematics, the first- and second-grade children's performance was compared to mental age and language age comparison groups of typically developing children on a series of tasks that examined conceptual, procedural, and declarative knowledge of mathematics. Despite displaying knowledge of many conceptual aspects of mathematics such as counting plates of cookies to decide which plate had "more," children with SLI displayed marked difficulty with declarative mathematical knowledge that required an immediate response such as rote counting to fifty, counting by 10's, reciting numerals backwards from 20, and addition facts such as 2 + 2=?. Moreover, children with SLI performed similarly to their cognitive peers on mathematical tasks that allowed children to use actual objects to count and on math problems that did not require them to exceed the sequence of numbers that they knew well. These findings offer further evidence that storage and/or retrieval of rote sequential material is particularly cumbersome for children with SLI.

A Comparison of Language Abilities in Adolescents With Down Syndrome and Children With Specific Language Impairment

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1324-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glynis Laws ◽  
Dorothy V. M. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
Language Profiles

This article compared the language profiles of adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and children with specific language impairment matched for nonverbal cognitive ability, and investigated whether similar relationships could be established between language measures and other capacities in both groups. Language profiles were very similar: Expressive language was more affected than language comprehension, and grammar was more affected than vocabulary in both domains. Both groups were impaired on tests of grammatical morphology and phonological memory. There were some differences between the groups, but these could be attributed to other features of development of people with DS.

scholarly journals Syntactic comprehension and working memory in children with specific language impairment, autism or Down syndrome

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 499-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Fortunato-Tavares ◽  
Claudia R. F. Andrade ◽  
Debora Befi-Lopes ◽  
Suelly O. Limongi ◽  
Fernanda D. M. Fernandes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language

scholarly journals Assessing Phonological Profiles in Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome: The Effect of Elicitation Methods

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliseo Diez-Itza ◽  
Patricio Vergara ◽  
María Barros ◽  
Manuela Miranda ◽  
Verónica Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Mental Age

In the context of comparing linguistic profiles across neurodevelopmental disorders, Down syndrome (DS) has captured growing attention for its uneven profile. Although specific weaknesses in grammatical and phonological processing have been reported, research evidence on phonological development remains scarce, particularly beyond early childhood. The purpose of this study was to explore the phonological profiles of children and adolescents with Down syndrome. The profiles were based on the frequency and relative proportion of the processes observed by classes, and they were compared to those of typically developing preschool children of similar verbal age. A complementary goal was to assess the effect of two different methods of elicitation: a test of articulation and spontaneous speech sampling. Finally, intergroup and intragroup differences in full match percentages between three positions at syllable-level (complex onset, medial coda, and final coda) were assessed. The results of the present study confirmed that the frequency of phonological processes in children and adolescents with DS is atypically high and is above what is expected for lexical age and at the same level as grammatical age. Highly increased frequency of processes, consistent in all kinds of processes and positions at the syllable-level, and asynchronous with verbal age and mental age suggest atypical developmental trajectories of phonological development in the Down syndrome population.

Language Skills of Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin S. Chapman ◽  
Scott E. Schwartz ◽  
Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Stepwise Multiple Regression ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Comprehension Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Comprehension ◽  
Comprehension Tests

This study investigates the development of vocabulary and syntax comprehension skills cross-sectionally in 48 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), aged 5–20 years, in comparison to 48 control children aged 2–6 years matched statistically for nonverbal mental age and mother’s years of education. Age-equivalent scores on vocabulary (PPVT-R) and syntax (TACL-R) comprehension tests differed in the Down syndrome group but not the control group; vocabulary comprehension was relatively more advanced than syntax Ageequivalent scores on nonverbal cognitive subtests of pattern analysis and short-term memory for bead arrangements (Stanford-Binet, 4th ed.) also differed for the Down syndrome group but not the control group, indicating an unusual pattern of nonverbal cognitive function in the Down syndrome group. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that chronological age and ean mental age, collectively, accounted for 78% of the variability in vocabulary comprehension and 80% of the variability in syntax comprehension in the Down syndrome group, with total passes on a hearing screening accounting for an additional 4% in each case Implications for research are discussed

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