Language Skills in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome and Non-verbal Mental Age-matched Controls
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Abstract
Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) as a chromosomal abnormality has different symptoms including cognitive problems and language delay. Studies showed a heterogeneous profile of language skills in this group of children. This study aimed to provide further information about the most vulnerable area of language -grammatical skills- regarding the unanalyzable utterances, clauses, phrases, grammatical morphemes, and mean length of utterances (MLU) in children with DS and compare them with those of non-verbal age-matched controls.
Materials and Methods: The grammatical structures of 12 children with DS (non-verbal age=39 months) were compared to those of 50 non-verbal mental age-matched controls (non-verbal age=41 months). Clause, phrase, and grammatical morphemes were investigated through spontaneous language sample analysis according to Persian-language assessment remediation and screening procedure (P-LARSP).
Results: Children with DS had higher percentages of unanalysable text units compared with typically matched peers (P≤0.001). The MLU, number of phrases and clauses structures, and inflectional morphemes were significantly lower in children with DS compared with typical children (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Children with DS showed a noticeable gap in grammatical structures compared with typical children. The possibility of specific language problems in children with DS should be considered by future studies.
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Mozaffar Zanganeh A, Ferdousi S. [Morphosyntactic structures in children with DS & typically children (Persian)]. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014; 7(4):55-69. [Link]
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Kazemi Y, Nakhshab M, Maleki T. [Language assessment series for children aged 18 to 30 months (language formation period) (Persian)]. Isfahan: Yalda Kazemi; 2017. [Link]
Samadi H, Perkins M. Persian: Divising the P-LARSP. In: Ball MJ, Crystal D, Fletcher P, editors. Assessing grammar: The languages of LARSP. Bristol: Multilingual Matters; 2012. [DOI:10.21832/9781847696397-012]
Salmani M, Shekariyan T. [P-Laresp language assessment, recovery and screening profile (Persian)]. Tehran: Setayesh Hasti; 2020. [Link]
Salmani M, Noruzi R, Askari F, Gholamian S, Jafari Naeemi A, Mohammadi M. Unanalyzable utterances in language sample analysis based on the P-LARSP: Preliminary data of typical children aged 18-60 months. Middle East Journal of Rehabilitation and Health Studies. 2021; 8(2):e111673. [DOI:10.5812/mejrh.111673]
Rondal JA, Ghiotto M, Brédart S, Bachelet JF. Mean length of utterance of children with down syndrome. American Journal of Mental Retardation. 1988; 93(1):64-6. [PMID]
Channell MM, McDuffie AS, Bullard LM, Abbeduto L. Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with down syndrome. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2015; 9(283):1-11. [DOI:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00283] [PMID] [PMCID]
Mcgrother CW, Marshall B. Recent trends in incidence, morbidity and survival in down’s syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 1990; 34(1):49-57. [DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2788.1990.tb01514.x] [PMID]
Zahed Pasha Y, Vahedi A, Zamani M, Alizadeh-Navaei R, Pasha EZ. Prevalence of birth defects in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Iranian Medicine. 2017; 20(6):376-85. [Link]
Godfrey M, Lee NR. Memory profiles in down syndrome across development: A review of memory abilities through the lifespan. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. 2018; 10(1):5-36. [DOI:10.1186/s11689-017-9220-y] [PMID] [PMCID]
Grieco J, Pulsifer M, Seligsohn K, Skotko B, Schwartz A. Down syndrome: Cognitive and behavioral functioning across the lifespan. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C, Seminars in Medical Genetics. 2015; 169(2):135-49. [DOI:10.1002/ajmg.c.31439] [PMID]
Damico JS, Muller N, Ball MJ. The handbook of language and speech disorders. Singapore: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. [DOI:10.1002/9781444318975]
Conners FA, Tungate AS, Abbeduto L, Merrill EC, Faught GG. Growth and decline in language and phonological memory over two years among adolescents with down syndrome. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. 2018; 123(2):103-18. [DOI:10.1352/1944-7558-123.2.103] [PMID] [PMCID]
Loveall SJ, Channell MM, Phillips BA, Abbeduto L, Conners FA. Receptive vocabulary analysis in down syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities. 2016; 55:161-72. [DOI:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.03.018] [PMID] [PMCID]
Berglund E, Eriksson M, Johansson I. Parental reports of spoken language skills in children with down syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2001; 44(1):179-91. [DOI:10.1044/1092-4388(2001/016)] [PMID]
Martin GE, Losh M, Estigarribia B, Sideris J, Roberts J. Longitudinal profiles of expressive vocabulary, syntax and pragmatic language in boys with fragile X syndrome or down syndrome. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. 2013; 48(4):432-43. [DOI:10.1111/1460-6984.12019] [PMID] [PMCID]
Bray M, Woolnough L. The language skills of children with down’s syndrome aged 12 to 16 years. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. 1988; 4(3):311-24. [DOI:10.1177/026565908800400305]
Chapman RS, Seung HK, Schwartz SE, Kay-Raining Bird E. Language skills of children and adolescents with down syndrome: II. Production deficits. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 1998; 41(4):861-73. [DOI:10.1044/jslhr.4104.861] [PMID]
Finestack LH, Sterling AM, Abbeduto L. Discriminating down syndrome and fragile X syndrome based on language ability. Journal of child language. 2013; 40(1):244-65. [DOI:10.1017/S0305000912000207] [PMID] [PMCID]
Draghi L, Zampini L. The emergence of multiword utterances in children with down syndrome. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. 2019; 33(5):406-19. [DOI:10.1080/02699206.2018.1521871] [PMID]
Raghib Doust S, Malekshah A. [Comprehension of simple and compound syntactic structures in Persian-speaking down children (Persian)]. Literary Text Research. 2009; 13(39):57-76. [DOI:10.22054/ltr.2009.6479]
Ebrahimian S, Nilipour R, Yadegari F. [The relation between receptive and expressive language in down’s syndrome children (Persian)]. Journal of Exceptional Children. 2003; 3(2):161-76. [Link]
Mozaffar Zanganeh A, Ferdousi S. [Morphosyntactic structures in children with DS & typically children (Persian)]. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014; 7(4):55-69. [Link]
Smith E, Hokstad S, Næss KB. Children with down syndrome can benefit from language interventions; results from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Communication Disorders. 2020; 85:105992. [DOI:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.105992] [PMID]
Roberts JE, Price J, Malkin C. Language and communication development in down syndrome. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews. 2007; 13(1):26-35. [DOI:10.1002/mrdd.20136] [PMID]
Abbeduto L, Warren SF, Conners FA. Language development in down syndrome: From the prelinguistic period to the acquisition of literacy. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews. 2007; 13(3):247-61. [DOI:10.1002/mrdd.20158] [PMID]
Thurman AJ, Edgin JO, Sherman SL, Sterling A, McDuffie A, Berry-Kravis E, et al. Spoken language outcome measures for treatment studies in down syndrome: Feasibility, practice effects, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of variables generated from expressive language sampling.Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. 2021; 13(1):13. [DOI:10.1186/s11689-021-09361-6] [PMID] [PMCID]
Kazemi Y, Nakhshab M, Maleki T. [Language assessment series for children aged 18 to 30 months (language formation period) (Persian)]. Isfahan: Yalda Kazemi; 2017. [Link]
Samadi H, Perkins M. Persian: Divising the P-LARSP. In: Ball MJ, Crystal D, Fletcher P, editors. Assessing grammar: The languages of LARSP. Bristol: Multilingual Matters; 2012. [DOI:10.21832/9781847696397-012]
Salmani M, Shekariyan T. [P-Laresp language assessment, recovery and screening profile (Persian)]. Tehran: Setayesh Hasti; 2020. [Link]
Salmani M, Noruzi R, Askari F, Gholamian S, Jafari Naeemi A, Mohammadi M. Unanalyzable utterances in language sample analysis based on the P-LARSP: Preliminary data of typical children aged 18-60 months. Middle East Journal of Rehabilitation and Health Studies. 2021; 8(2):e111673. [DOI:10.5812/mejrh.111673]
Rondal JA, Ghiotto M, Brédart S, Bachelet JF. Mean length of utterance of children with down syndrome. American Journal of Mental Retardation. 1988; 93(1):64-6. [PMID]
Channell MM, McDuffie AS, Bullard LM, Abbeduto L. Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with down syndrome. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2015; 9(283):1-11. [DOI:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00283] [PMID] [PMCID]
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 17 No 2 (2023) | |
| Section | Research Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/jmr.v17i2.12411 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Down syndrome Language Preschool children | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Aminian M, Karbalaei Sadegh M, Salmani M, Jafari Naeemi A. Language Skills in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome and Non-verbal Mental Age-matched Controls. jmr. 2023;17(2):134-141.
