Reported speech in individuals with Down syndrome: First evidence

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Narrative construction is enhanced by adopting protagonist perspectives through reported speech.
• The use of reported speech in individuals with Down syndrome remains under-researched globally.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the occurrence and forms of reported speech in children and adolescents with Down syndrome.
• To compare reported speech usage between individuals with Down syndrome and typically developing children.

Main Methods:

• Collected narratives from 28 children and adolescents with Down syndrome using a non-verbal picture book.
• Analyzed the occurrence and forms of reported speech.
• Compared findings with 33 typically developing children (TD).

Main Results:

• Both groups utilized reported speech in narratives with comparable frequency.
• Individuals with Down syndrome employed more free direct speech compared to TD children.
• This suggests potential differences in pragmatic language use.

Conclusions:

• Children and adolescents with Down syndrome can use reported speech despite syntactic impairments.
• Increased use of free direct speech may reflect cognitive challenges in audience design.
• Further research into cognitive factors influencing reported speech is warranted.