Novel word acquisition in children with Down syndrome: does modality make a difference?

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Children with Down syndrome often experience expressive language delays.
• Sign language is a common intervention for these delays.
• Understanding novel word learning is crucial for language development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare novel word learning in children with Down syndrome and mental-age matched controls.
• To investigate the effectiveness of signed-only, spoken-only, and combined signed-and-spoken word learning conditions.
• To examine imitation and production of novel words across different exposure levels.

Main Methods:

• Participants included children with Down syndrome and typically developing controls matched for mental age.
• Novel word learning was assessed across three conditions: signed only, spoken only, and combined.
• Spontaneous imitations and probed productions/comprehensions were recorded after 5, 10, and 15 exposures.

Main Results:

• No significant group differences were found in the frequency of word imitations or productions.
• The combined signed and spoken condition yielded the highest frequency of imitations.
• Children with Down syndrome demonstrated lower word comprehension than control children across all conditions.

Conclusions:

• Dual-method presentation (signed and spoken) may enhance word imitation for children with expressive language delays.
• While imitation rates were similar, comprehension differences highlight specific challenges for children with Down syndrome.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the facilitative effects of sign language in word acquisition.