Shared book reading in Down syndrome: parent-child interaction, language, and communication compared with typically...

Shared book reading (SBR) is well-suited to children with Down syndrome (DS), yet evidence on parent-child communication during SBR remains limited. This exploratory observational study examined parental behaviours, interaction and communication, and child engagement and multimodal communication during SBR with children with DS (n = 12; 24-45 months), a typically developing (TD) group similar on chronological age (AM; n = 10; 25-47 months) and a TD group similar on receptive vocabulary (LM; n = 10; 12-29 months).

Parent-child dyads were video-recorded sharing an unfamiliar picture book. Parental and child behaviours were rated using the Maternal/Child Behaviour Rating Scale. Transcripts were coded for parental verbatim reading, extra-textual talk and speech acts, children's communicative acts and parent/child utterance complexity.

AM dyads showed higher ratings of parental effectiveness in maintaining balanced interaction and higher child attention/compliance than DS and LM dyads. Parents of children with DS used more supportive directives and signing than AM parents. Children with DS produced fewer verbalisations and shorter utterances than AM peers, and more signing than TD groups. Total communication was not different across groups. Exploratory within-group analyses indicated positive associations in DS and AM (but not LM) dyads between parental responsiveness and child engagement and communication.

Findings highlight the value of examining multimodal communication during SBR, as children with DS showed reduced spoken output but similar overall communicative rates when nonverbal and signed communication were included. Similarities between DS and LM dyads suggest that SBR interaction patterns may be shaped partly by children's developmental language profiles. These preliminary findings support further investigation of parent-child SBR as a naturalistic context for understanding communication, engagement, and multimodal participation in young children with DS.