Language and Visuospatial Abilities in Down Syndrome Phenotype: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective

Language Development and Mobile Apps for Down Syndrome Children

“…Thus, as the child grows older, s/he will develop microcephaly with reduced brain volume, frontal and temporal lobes, cerebellum, myelination process and other areas of the brain with differentiated development. Particularly, the head of these infants has a larger third ventricle than normal developing infants, which is associated with the abnormal development of a wider area of the brain, such as the chamber, hypothalamus, or white substance of the brain, areas associated with cognitive processing and responsible for their cognitive deficits [3]. Moreover, they have abnormal neural interactions between the frontal and parietal lobes, which also affect the Broca area, while the abnormal development of the cerebellum creates problems of dysarthria, balance, synchronization and coordination of movements, as it is associated with executive function, reading, the sequence of learning, movement and language [12].…”

“…At the same time, the beginning of the combination of the two words appears between the 1st and the 6th year, while the formation of the first sentences from the 1st-17th year of their age, producing simple noun and verb phrases and simple questions and negations, in which grammatical morphemes are omitted and in particular, the tense morphemes [20]. Therefore, syntactic deficiencies and not vocabulary place limitations on the narrative production [3]. However, as they use more complex word combinations, at the same mental age as typical developmental children, they gradually show slower growth rates, complexity and length of utterances and inconsistency even in already acquired grammars, indicating that they will never reach a complete knowledge of syntax.…”

Digital Games for Down Syndrome Children’s Language and Cognitive Development

“…Thus, as the child grows older, s/he will develop microcephaly with reduced brain volume, frontal and temporal lobes, cerebellum, myelination process and other areas of the brain with differentiated development. Particularly, the head of these infants has a larger third ventricle than normal developing infants, which is associated with the abnormal development of a wider area of the brain, such as the chamber, hypothalamus, or white substance of the brain, areas associated with cognitive processing and responsible for their cognitive deficits [3]. Moreover, they have abnormal neural interactions between the frontal and parietal lobes, which also affect the Broca area, while the abnormal development of the cerebellum creates problems of dysarthria, balance, synchronization and coordination of movements, as it is associated with executive function, reading, the sequence of learning, movement and language [13].…”

“…At the same time, the beginning of the combination of the two words appears between the 1st and the 6th year, while the formation of the first sentences from the 1st-17th year of their age, producing simple noun and verb phrases and simple questions and negations, in which grammatical morphemes are omitted and in particular, the tense morphemes [21]. Therefore, syntactic deficiencies and not vocabulary place limitations on the narrative production [3]. However, as they use more complex word combinations, at the same mental age as typical developmental children, they gradually show slower growth rates, complexity and length of utterances and inconsistency even in already acquired grammars, indicating that they will never reach a complete knowledge of syntax.…”

“…It is also called trisomy 21, as 95% of this population has a third copy of all or part of chromosome 21, instead of the normal two copies, while the less common types of the syndrome are translocated 21 and mosaicism [2] The mental retardation of the syndrome ranges from mild to severe, with an observed impairment of cognitive functions, along with increasing chronological age. At the same time, the pathogenic function of the genes of the extra chromosome 21 contributes to the formation of a specific phenotype of characteristics, related to health problems, cognitive and language deficits, neuromotor dysfunction and early aging [3].…”