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

Abstract

Although there are similarities with vocabulary growth in typically developing children, lexical development in children with Down syndrome appears to lag behind their cognitive development.

Habilidades comunicativas e lexicais de crianças com Síndrome de Down: reflexões para inclusão escolar

“…The delay in the development of communicative skills in individuals with DS is foreseen in the literature 7,10,13,19,20,24,25 , even though these individuals do not behave in a homogenous way 10,24 .…”

“…Authors have shown the lexical acquisition, although delayed, follows the same development route 24 . Other studies 6,10,13,[23][24][25] also pointed out the need to verify receptive and expressive skills that can be more limited in DS individuals. To compensate their oral production delay, many children use sign language for longer periods, aiming to improve their interlocutor comprehension 13,[19][20][21]23,26 .…”

“…Children with DS present various communicative behaviors, showing heterogeneity in their personal functioning 1,10,25 , affected by characteristics of health and stimulation from the social settings they take part, including the family and school settings 4,10,14,22 . The lexical performance will reflect the child's ability to comprehend and elaborate enunciation that will always be present in their communicative environment and will facilitate and promote information exchange with interlocutors, allowing and permeating the learning process and the global development.…”

Joint attention behaviours and vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome

“…This condition is usually associated with psychomotor delays and cognitive impairments. Moreover, the language development of children with Down syndrome is usually particularly impaired (Abbeduto et al 2007;Zampini & D'Odorico 2013), and the discrepancy between language comprehension and production is wider than in typically developing children (Caselli et al 1998).…”

Patterns of early lexical and gestural development in children with Williams syndrome.

“…A more recent longitudinal study of lexical development in children with DS analyzed the developmental trend of vocabulary acquisition in a group of 18 Italian children (Zampini & D'Odorico, 2013). A sample of 10 2-year-old children with DS was followed until they were 3 years of age, and 8 3-year-old children were followed until they were 4 years.…”