Biomaterial Database

Individual differences in vocabulary acquisition in children with Down syndrome. 1995

J F Miller

Waisman Mental Retardation Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53705, USA.

Children with Down syndrome offer an opportunity for investigators interested in cognition and language problems to study asynchronous development of vocabulary, and syntax in language production relative to comprehension and cognitive status. Our work to date has documented consistent differences in the rate of vocabulary learning in children with DS relative to their mental age matched peers. These deficits increase with advancing age indicating that the learning rate of the DS group is significantly slower than that of the TD group. While the rate of vocabulary acquisition is significantly slower for the children with DS, not all of the children we studied exhibited similar rates of learning. Thirty-five percent of our children had rates of vocabulary growth consistent with mental age expectations. These data suggest that neither the syndrome alone nor the cognitive deficit associated with Down syndrome can explain the differences observed in vocabulary growth. Our next series of studies will evaluate a variety of causal constructs to explain the significant asynchronies in language learning compared with other cognitive abilities.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007206	Individuality	Those psychological characteristics which differentiate individuals from one another.	Individual Differences,Difference, Individual,Differences, Individual,Individual Difference
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
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
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D014706	Verbal Learning	Learning to respond verbally to a verbal stimulus cue.	Learning, Verbal,Learnings, Verbal,Verbal Learnings
D014825	Vocabulary	The sum or the stock of words used by a language, a group, or an individual. (From Webster, 3d ed)	Vocabularies