What is it about?
We monitored the development of two infants with Down syndrome and two typically developing ones through repeated home observations and tests, focusing on children's vocalizations, gestures, and mothers' child-directed speech.
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Why is it important?
Of a total of 121 communicative episodes that were coded, only 41 involved the children with Down syndrome and their mothers. We found a specific communicative deficit linked to Down syndrome, with the atypical children relying more on gestures than vocalizations.
Perspectives
Infants with Down syndrome engage in caregiver interactions less often than typically developing infants and tend to favour gestures, indicating that gestural communication for children with Down syndrome may serve as a gateway to language.
Professor Lars Smith
University of Oslo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Structure of ‘Dialogue’ in Early Language Development: Longitudinal Case Studies of Down Syndrome and Nonretarded Toddlers, January 1987, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/s0166-4115(08)60354-4.
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