The use of internal states words by children with Down syndrome

The development of verbal communication poses greater challenges for children with Down syndrome (DS) compared with their typically developing (TD) peers (Chapman et al., 1991; Martin et al., 2009). In particular, children with DS tend to differ from TD children in their ability to produce internal states words, including lexical items used to express sensory perception (e.g. see, hear, smell), affect (e.g. love, feel, sad), and cognition (e.g. know, think, remember) (Beeghly & Cicchetti, 1997). Building on previous research, we carry out the first study of longitudinal development in the use of IS words by children with DS and compare this development to a control group of TD children in two registers (oral narratives and conversation). Our research questions are: To what extent does the use of internal states words by children with DS: a. change over time? b. vary across registers? c. differ from TD children? Participants were children with DS (n = 19), ages 5 – 16, who produced elicited oral narratives and conversation in English with adult interlocutors at one-year intervals over approximately four years (see Cleave et al., 2012). These children were matched for nonverbal mental age with a sample of TD children (n = 16) at the final time period. We adopted a corpus-driven approach to analyzing internal states words in which we used a newly developed framework for identifying and coding IS words into semantic categories. Quantitative and qualitative comparisons were conducted across time points, between registers, and between children with DS and TD children. Results reveal effects of each of these variables, showing a particularly strong effect of register and a slight decline in the use of IS words by children in the DS group. Our findings have implications for researchers and professionals in communication disorders and caregivers of children with DS.