The language development of children with Down syndrome: First words to two-word phrases

Semiotic Inspection of a Game for Children with Down Syndrome

“…Despite individual differences, these children are usually late in saying their first words, their vocabulary grows more slowly and, although they use the same range of two-word phrases as all children, they have difficulty in producing grammatically correct sentences [Buckley 1993;Buckley 1994]. Many of these children have more difficulty with expressive language than they do with understanding language.…”

Vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome: Longitudinal and cross-sectional data

“…Other authors (e.g., Galeote, Sebastián, Checa, Rey, & Soto, 2011), however, have found that lexical development in children with Down syndrome does not lag behind cognitive development. It has to be noted that the inconsistency in the results could be partially due to the methods used; for instance, some studies assessed children's lexical production by standardised tests (e.g., Roberts, Price, Barnes, et al, 2007), whereas other studies used parental inventories (e.g., Galeote et al, 2011) or parental observation (e.g., Oliver & Buckley, 1994).…”

“…While the phenomenon of a vocabulary spurt (i.e., a rapid increase in the rate at which young children learn new words) generally occurs at approximately 18 months in typically developing children, data regarding the onset of a vocabulary spurt in children with Down syndrome are inconsistent. Oliver and Buckley (1994), for instance, found that the vocabulary spurt can appear as early as 30 months in children with Down syndrome, whereas Caselli, Marchetti, and Vicari (1994) showed that this phenomenon can occur later, for example, when children are 5 or 6 years old. However, evidence in the literature suggests that not all children with Down syndrome exhibit a vocabulary spurt; Oliver and Buckley (1994), analysing the records of language development of 12 children with Down syndrome, found that a vocabulary spurt was identifiable in only five of them.…”

“…For instance, Oliver and Buckley (1994), using monthly diary records based on parental observation, investigated the lexical development of 17 children with Down syndrome ranging in chronological age from 1-4 years. In particular, they followed nine children with Down syndrome until the children reached the 10-word stage, reporting that the chronological age range in which this goal was reached was 19-38 months.…”

A Review Paper on the Syntactic Abilities of Individuals with Down Syndrome

“…For example, data from parental reports suggest that linguistic expression using gestures lags behind normal development (Miller, 1992). Also, Oliver and Buckley (1994) used parental records assessing first words and two-word phrases and they found that individuals with DS used approximately the same type of vocabulary as TD infants but with a delay up to 18 months, as well as presented remarkable individual differences in the development of the first ten words learnt, which ranged from 19 to 38 months. Particularly, the area of morphosyntax seems to be more impaired than other domains within the language system, such as lexical abilities (Chapman et al, 1991;Chapman & Hesketh, 2000;Kernan & Sabsay, 1996;Fabbretti et al, 1997;Schaner-Wolles, 2004).…”