TY - JOUR
T1 - Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with down syndrome
AU - Channell, Marie Moore
AU - McDuffie, Andrea S.
AU - Bullard, Lauren M.
AU - Abbeduto, Leonard
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Channell, McDuffie, Bullard and Abbeduto.
PY - 2015/10/30
Y1 - 2015/10/30
N2 - This study was designed to examine the narrative language abilities of children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) in comparison to same-age peers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and younger typically developing (TD) children matched by nonverbal cognitive ability levels. Participants produced narrative retells from a wordless picture book. Narratives were analyzed at the macrostructural (i.e., their internal episodic structure) and the microstructural (i.e., rate of use of specific word categories) levels. Mean length of utterance (MLU), a microstructural metric of syntactic complexity, was used as a control variable. Participants with DS produced fewer episodic elements in their narratives (i.e., their narratives were less fully realized) than the TD participants, although MLU differences accounted for the macrostructural differences between participant groups. At the microstructural level, participants with DS displayed a lower rate of verb use than the groups with FXS and typical development, even after accounting for MLU. These findings reflect both similarities and differences between individuals with DS or FXS and contribute to our understanding of the language phenotype of DS. Implications for interventions to promote language development and academic achievement are discussed.
AB - This study was designed to examine the narrative language abilities of children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) in comparison to same-age peers with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and younger typically developing (TD) children matched by nonverbal cognitive ability levels. Participants produced narrative retells from a wordless picture book. Narratives were analyzed at the macrostructural (i.e., their internal episodic structure) and the microstructural (i.e., rate of use of specific word categories) levels. Mean length of utterance (MLU), a microstructural metric of syntactic complexity, was used as a control variable. Participants with DS produced fewer episodic elements in their narratives (i.e., their narratives were less fully realized) than the TD participants, although MLU differences accounted for the macrostructural differences between participant groups. At the microstructural level, participants with DS displayed a lower rate of verb use than the groups with FXS and typical development, even after accounting for MLU. These findings reflect both similarities and differences between individuals with DS or FXS and contribute to our understanding of the language phenotype of DS. Implications for interventions to promote language development and academic achievement are discussed.
KW - Down syndrome
KW - Intellectual disability
KW - Language development
KW - Narrative language
KW - Neurodevelopmental disorders
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U2 - 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00283
DO - 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00283
M3 - Article
C2 - 26578913
AN - SCOPUS:84947546636
SN - 1662-5153
VL - 9
JO - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
IS - OCTOBER
M1 - 283
ER -