The study intends to raise a discussion regarding the question of whether a Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) can be considered applicable to children younger than two years with Down Syndrome (DS), to stimulate their cognitive abilities. In fact, currently MLE approach is used mainly for children of at least two years of age. The longitudinal study has been conducted for six months with a one-year-old child with DS (named T.) between 12 and 18-months of age. Sessions of video recording was conducted each week, videotaping the boy and his mother interacting in different object permanence and cause-effect activities. The article presents first a discussion about similar characteristics that can be identified between MLE and the Karlstad-model, an established approach used regularly in Norway to enhance the communication abilities of children with DS already from the first months. Then, the research presents and discusses how simple activities used also to introduce the Karlstad-model for enhancing child’s communication ability can be used to support specific cognitive functions. The study raises interest about the possibility of defining activities suitable for an MLE approach with focus on children younger than two years of age with DS. The results obtained are not generalizable but provide a starting point for discussion that opens up to possible qualitative and quantitative subsequent studies carried out on larger populations.

Down syndrome (DS) is the most identified genetic form of disability. Individuals with DS have cognitive and linguistic impairments that vary from severe to mild, although they may show strengths in imitation, social learning, and the use of body language. Many studies have shown that early interventions for sustaining the development of children with DS (physically, linguistically, and cognitively) provide important results, enhance their abilities, and improve their life. Children with DS benefit when supported in their linguistic and cognitive development in the family context, for example, through the ability to compare and relate objects or situations (i.e., transfer competence). Although many studies have shown mediated learning strategies applied in a home environment to enhance children’s analogical, analytical, or inferential thinking, including for people with disabilities, there remains a lack of studies of these strategies for children younger than three years of age. This is in contrast with studies that present analogical thinking (i.e., transfer ability) as one of the fundamental approaches developed before the age of three. The present study aims to highlight mothers’ perceptions about mediated learning strategies used in the home environment to support the transfer ability in children with DS. Five mothers of children with DS who were younger than 3 years of age were involved in the project. They carried out two activities with their child, participated in an online workshop, and answered a questionnaire. The questionnaire’s answers were subjected to thematic analysis. This analysis revealed four main themes: motivation for learning and applying mediational strategies in a family environment, mediational styles applied during activities, language and cognition, and the family as a part of the educational environment. Based on the findings, new lines of future research are suggested.