Lateralisation of speech stimuli in young Down's Syndrome children

The auditory processing of linguistic (single-syllable common nouns) stimulation, presented dichotically, was investigated in a group of young (mean CA = 52 months) Down's Syndrome children and 2 groups of nonretarded children, matched on CA. The Down's Syndrome children showed a significant left ear advantage in processing this material, and the nonretarded children the typical right ear advantage. That an advantage should be shown in such chronologically young retarded children is of relevance to the relationship between lateralisation and cognitive development, and the reversed pattern corroborates work with older Down's Syndrome children.