scholarly journals Mental State Verb Production as a Measure of Perspective Taking in Narrations of Individuals With Down Syndrome

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Neitzel ◽  
Martina Penke
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
The Relationship

Introduction: Perspective taking is an important ability to enrich narrations by empathizing with a real or fictional character. Mental state verbs (MSV) are a good indicator for this ability as they serve to reflect the mindset that the narrator attributes to a protagonist. Especially syntactic abilities have been argued to be relevant for MSV use. Investigating persons with Down Syndrome (DS) is likely to provide important insights into the relationship of MSV use and syntactic abilities: MSV are mostly used in complex sentence structures, which are a frequent difficulty for individuals with this syndrome. Indeed, previous investigations have found first evidence for impaired MSV production in individuals with DS, indicating a link to syntactic abilities and expressive vocabulary. Our aim was to provide evidence on MSV production and on the syntactic context of MSV production in individuals with DS and to target a possible connection to both cognitive and language abilities using specific language assessments. Typically-developing (pre-)school children were included as a comparison group to identify impaired respectively developmentally-adequate performance.Method: 28 individuals with Down syndrome (aged 10; 0–20; 1 years) participated in a battery of cognitive, narrative and language measures. MSV-performance and syntactical context of MSV use were compared to data from 33 typically-developing children aged 3–9 years. We also analyzed the relationship between MSV production and language performance (vocabulary, syntax measures, mean length of utterance).Results: The total number and types of MSV used were comparable for individuals with DS and TD. Moreover, a syntactic analysis indicated that individuals with DS and TD use MSV in the same syntactic contexts. Nevertheless, the syntactic difficulties of participants with DS are reflected in their frequent use of MSV in sentence-fragments. Correlations over the DS group yielded that syntactic abilities were not decisive for the richness and diversity of MSV in narrations.Conclusion: Our findings suggest a comparable performance in MSV use in individuals with DS and school-aged TD children. The data indicate that MSV production is possible even with an impaired syntax suggesting unimpaired perspective taking abilities in individuals with DS.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Standardized Measures of Language and Measures of Spontaneous Speech in Children With Autism

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Condouris ◽  
Echo Meyer ◽  
Helen Tager-Flusberg
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Vocabulary Test ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Standardized Measures ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated the relationship between scores on standardized tests (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals [CELF], Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition [PPVT-III], and Expressive Vocabulary Test) and measures of spontaneous speech (mean length of utterance [MLU], Index of Productive Syntax, and number of different word roots [NDWR]) derived from natural language samples obtained from 44 children with autism between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. The children with autism were impaired across both groups of measures. The two groups of measures were significantly correlated, and specific relationships were found between lexical-semantic measures (NDWR, vocabulary tests, and the CELF lexical-semantic subtests) and grammatical measures (MLU, and CELF grammar subtests), suggesting that both standardized and spontaneous speech measures tap the same underlying linguistic abilities in children with autism. These findings have important implications for clinicians and researchers who depend on these types of language measures for diagnostic purposes, assessment, and investigations of language impairments in autism.

scholarly journals Αλληλοσυντονισμός της προσοχής και γλωσσική ανάπτυξη σε νήπια με σύνδρομο Down

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 468
Author(s):  
Χριστίνα Φ. Παπαηλιού ◽  
Νικήτας Ε. Πολεμικός ◽  
Ελένη Φρυσίρα ◽  
Αναστάσιος Κοντάκος ◽  
Μαρία Καΐλα ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Joint Attention ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Communicative Behaviors

Many studies demonstrate that in typically developing (TD) children joint attention constitutes a prerequisite for language development. However, data on the development of joint attention and its relation to language development in Down syndrome (DS) are contradictory. The present study aims to examine joint attention in toddlers with DS as well as its association with language comprehension and production. Participants were 10 toddlers with DS (mean chronological age: 58 months) and 10 TD toddlers matched for language comprehension (mean chronological age: 32 months). Language Comprehension and language production were assessed using the Müllen Scales of Early Learning, expressive vocabulary was assessed using the Language Development Survey, and the communicative behaviors were assessed through observation of interactions with the mother in a semi-structured condition with toys. According to the findings, toddlers with DS exhibit significantly morejoint attention behaviors compared to TD toddlers. Moreover, it was shown that in toddlers with DS language production was significantly negatively correlated with initiating request gestures. Conclusively, it seems that in toddlers with DS the transition from pre-linguistic to linguistic period follows a similar developmental path as in TD toddlers, although a severe delay is observed.

scholarly journals Differences and Similarities in Predictors of Expressive Vocabulary Development between Children with Down Syndrome and Young Typically Developing Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Kari-Anne B. Næss ◽  
Johanne Ostad ◽  
Egil Nygaard
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Oral Motor

The purpose of this study was to examine potential differences in the predictors of expressive vocabulary development between children with Down syndrome and typically developing children to support preparation for intervention development. An age cohort of 43 children with Down syndrome and 57 typically developing children with similar nonverbal mental age levels were assessed at three time points. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the predictors of expressive vocabulary over time. Both groups achieved progress in expressive vocabulary. The typically developing children had steeper growth than the children with Down syndrome (1.38 SD vs. 0.8 SD, p < 0.001). In both groups, receptive vocabulary, auditory memory, and the home literacy environment were significant predictors of development. In the children with Down syndrome, the phonological awareness and oral motor skills were also significant. Group comparisons showed that receptive vocabulary, auditory memory and oral motor skills were stronger predictors in the children with Down syndrome than in the typically developing children. These results indicate that children with Down syndrome are more vulnerable when it comes to risk factors that are known to influence expressive vocabulary than typically developing children. Children with Down syndrome therefore require early broad-based expressive vocabulary interventions.

scholarly journals Do Infants With Down Syndrome Show an Early Receptive Language Advantage?

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 585-598
Author(s):  
Emily Mason-Apps ◽  
Vesna Stojanovik ◽  
Carmel Houston-Price ◽  
Emily Seager ◽  
Sue Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Expressive Communication ◽  
Shed Light

Purpose The study explored longitudinally the course of vocabulary and general language development in a group of infants with Down syndrome (DS) compared to a group of typically developing (TD) infants matched on nonverbal mental ability (NVMA). Method We compared the vocabulary and general language trajectories of the two groups in two ways: (a) at three time points during a 12-month period and (b) at two time points when the groups had made equal progress in NVMA (a period of 6 months for the TD infants vs. 12 months for the infants with DS). Results The TD group had overtaken the DS group on all general language and vocabulary measures by the end of the 12-month period. However, expressive communication and expressive vocabulary were developing at the same rate and level in the two groups when examined over a period in which the two groups were matched in gains in NVMA. Furthermore, the infants with DS showed a receptive language advantage over the TD group; this group's auditory comprehension and receptive vocabulary scores were superior to those of the TD group at both time points when NVMA was accounted for. Conclusion The results shed light on the widely reported discrepancy between expressive and receptive language in individuals with DS. Although infants with DS appear to be developing language skills more slowly than chronological age TD peers, when NVMA is taken into account, infants with DS do not have expressive language delays, and they seem to show a receptive language advantage.

scholarly journals Developing a List of Expressive Vocabulary forFarsi-speakingChildrenAged24-48Months:Comparison Between Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Masoumi ◽  
Zahra Malmir ◽  
Zahra Soleymani ◽  
Mina Mohammadi Nouri
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Significant Difference

Introduction: Expressive vocabulary plays a vital role in child language development, and its assessment can be one of the essential indicators to identify language developmental delay, especially in children with Down syndrome. We developed a list of expressive vocabulary and compared the size and class of expressive vocabularies between typically developing and Down syndrome children. Materials and Methods: Expressive vocabulary of 150 children was examined  in  this study. A total of 120 typically developing Farsi-speaking children (in four age Groups, with   a 6-month interval) and 30 children with Down syndrome (aged 24-48 months) participated in this study. The parents of the children filled out the form that included 636 words from different vocabulary classes. These classes were based on studies that investigated language development in Farsi-speaking children. Results: The expressive vocabulary size in Farsi-speaking children was significantly higher than in Down syndrome children (P≤0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between boys and girls regarding expressive vocabulary size in two Groups of children. The size of nouns in all age Groups is more than other classes, and the size of conjunctions in all age Groups is less than the other ones. A direct correlation was found between age and the size of expressive vocabulary. Conclusion: According to the study findings, the list of expressive vocabulary can detect delays in developing expressive vocabulary.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Sound–Shape Matching and Cognitive Ability in Adults With Down Syndrome

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 537-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hamburg ◽  
C. M. Startin ◽  
A. Strydom
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Shape Matching ◽  
Preliminary Finding ◽  
General Characteristic ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Behavior Skills ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Adaptive Behavior Skills

Down syndrome (DS), the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, is characterised by a pattern of cognitive deficits hypothesised as relating to later developing neural systems. Multisensory integration (MSI) has been shown to benefit cognitive performance on numerous tasks in the typically developing population and is implicated in the early development of various cognitive processes. Given these developmental links of both MSI and DS it is important to determine the relationship between MSI and DS. This study aimed to characterise sound–shape matching performance in young adults with DS as an indicator of MSI (correct response rate around 90% in typically developing individuals). We further investigated the relationship between task performance and estimated cognitive ability (verbal and non-verbal) in addition to everyday adaptive behavior skills. Those answering correctly (72.5%) scored significantly higher across cognitive and adaptive behavior measures compared to those answering incorrectly. Furthermore, 57.1% of individuals with estimated cognitive ability scores below the median value answered correctly compared to 89.5% of individuals scoring above the median, with similar values found for adaptive behavior skills (57.9% vs. 94.4%). This preliminary finding suggests sound–shape matching deficits are relatively common in DS but may be restricted to individuals of lower ability as opposed to being a general characteristic of DS. Further studies investigating aspects of MSI across a range of modalities are necessary to fully characterise the nature of MSI in DS and to explore underlying neural correlates and mechanisms.

scholarly journals Conceptual Scoring of Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Measures in Simultaneous and Sequential Bilingual Children

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 574-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Gross ◽  
Milijana Buac ◽  
Margarita Kaushanskaya
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Opportunity To Respond ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Expressive Modality ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Language Measures ◽  
The Average Range

Purpose The authors examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Method Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish–English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilingual children, ages 5–7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for those who were bilingual. After the standardized administration, bilingual children were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Results Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children scored significantly below monolingual children on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in the receptive modality but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolingual and sequential bilingual children in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups, conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conclusion Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilingual children, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically developing simultaneous bilingual children.

Mental State Expression During Peer Play: A Comparison of Typically Developing Children and Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-117
Author(s):  
Helen R. McDermott ◽  
Patricia A. Prelock ◽  
Ashley R. Brien
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognition And Emotion ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Mental State Terms ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between mental state term use in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children engaged in play. Expression of mental state terms was used as an indicator of theory of mind (ToM) skills. Archived data were used to compare mental state term use for five ASD-TD dyads engaged in various play contexts. During imaginative play, children with ASD used fewer cognition mental state terms than TD children but used a similar number of emotion mental state terms. In combination play, both groups used similar numbers of cognition and emotion mental state terms. Play context implicates use of mental state terms in expression in children with ASD. Scaffolding use of mental state terms during play may provide an opportunity for children to use more advanced levels of ToM, including cognitive mental state term expression, when engaged with peers.

Role of Verbal Memory in Reading Text Comprehension of Individuals With Down Syndrome

2011 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Levorato ◽  
Maja Roch ◽  
Elena Florit
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Verbal Skills ◽  
Reading Text ◽  
Primary Variable ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This study analyzed the relationship between verbal memory and reading text comprehension in individuals with Down syndrome. The hypothesis that verbal memory provides unique contribution to reading text comprehension after controlling for verbal skills was tested. Twenty-three individuals with Down syndrome (ages 11 years, 2 months–18 years, 1 month) were matched on reading text comprehension, which was the primary variable of interest, with 23 typically developing children (ages 6 years, 2 months–7 years, 1 month). The two groups were compared on verbal skills and verbal memory. The results showed that working memory (concurrent storage and processing functions), but not short-term memory, predicted unique variance in reading text comprehension, after the verbal skills were controlled for. No group differences emerged in the relationship between verbal memory and reading text comprehension.

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