Biomaterial Database

Parental reports of spoken language skills in children with Down syndrome. 2001

E Berglund, and M Eriksson, and I Johansson

Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden. eva.berglund@adm.uas.lul.se

Spoken language in children with Down syndrome and in children in a normative group was compared. Growth trends, individual variation, sex differences, and performance on vocabulary, pragmatic, and grammar scales as well as MaxLU (maximum length of utterance) were explored. Subjects were 330 children with Down syndrome (age range: 1-5 years) and 336 children in a normative group (1;4-2;4 years;months). The Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventory-words and sentences (SECDI-w&s) was employed. Performance of children with Down syndrome at ages 3;0 and 4;0 was comparable with that of children in the normative group at ages 1;4 and 1;8 respectively. In comparison with children in the normative group of similar vocabulary size, children with Down syndrome lagged slightly on pragmatic and grammar scales. The early development proceeded in most cases with exponential or logistic growth. This stresses the great potential of early intervention.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007806	Language Disorders	Conditions characterized by deficiencies of comprehension or expression of written and spoken forms of language. These include acquired and developmental disorders.	Acquired Language Disorders,Language Disorders, Acquired,Acquired Language Disorder,Language Disorder,Language Disorder, Acquired
D008297	Male		Males
D010290	Parents	Persons functioning as natural, adoptive, or substitute parents. The heading includes the concept of parenthood as well as preparation for becoming a parent.	Step-Parents,Parental Age,Parenthood Status,Stepparent,Age, Parental,Ages, Parental,Parent,Parental Ages,Status, Parenthood,Step Parents,Step-Parent,Stepparents
D002663	Child Language	The language and sounds expressed by a child at a particular maturational stage in development.	Child Languages,Language, Child,Languages, Child
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D004314	Down Syndrome	A chromosome disorder associated either with an extra CHROMOSOME 21 or an effective TRISOMY for chromosome 21. Clinical manifestations include HYPOTONIA, short stature, BRACHYCEPHALY, upslanting palpebral fissures, epicanthus, Brushfield spots on the iris, protruding tongue, small ears, short, broad hands, fifth finger clinodactyly, single transverse palmar crease, and moderate to severe INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY. Cardiac and gastrointestinal malformations, a marked increase in the incidence of LEUKEMIA, and the early onset of ALZHEIMER DISEASE are also associated with this condition. Pathologic features include the development of NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES in neurons and the deposition of AMYLOID BETA-PROTEIN, similar to the pathology of ALZHEIMER DISEASE. (Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p213)	Mongolism,Trisomy 21,47,XX,+21,47,XY,+21,Down Syndrome, Partial Trisomy 21,Down's Syndrome,Partial Trisomy 21 Down Syndrome,Trisomy 21, Meiotic Nondisjunction,Trisomy 21, Mitotic Nondisjunction,Trisomy G,Downs Syndrome,Syndrome, Down,Syndrome, Down's
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000367	Age Factors	Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.	Age Reporting,Age Factor,Factor, Age,Factors, Age