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Language Skills in Down Syndrome

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Language Development and Disorders in Spanish-speaking Children

Part of the book series: Literacy Studies ((LITS,volume 14))

Abstract

People with Down Syndrome (DS) tend to ommit grammatical markers indicating number, gender, time, among others. They also have production deficits affecting function words in obligatory contexts such as prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns. In the current chapter, we will review studies that have explored language comprehension and production skills and their relationships with other cognitive abilities. We will emphasise research on language comprehension indicating that children with DS identify, anticipate a referent and potentially, learn novel words based on morphological cues.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter was supported by funds awarded to Natalia Arias-Trejo: Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Inovación Tecnológica (PAPIIT RN 309214), and the Foundation Jérôme Lejeune years 2014–2016, Project: Language Comprehension in Down Syndrome.

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  1. Laboratorio de Psicolingüística, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Natalia Arias-Trejo & Julia B. Barrón-Martínez

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  1. Natalia Arias-Trejo
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  2. Julia B. Barrón-Martínez
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Correspondence to Natalia Arias-Trejo .

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  1. Hospital General “Dr. Manuel Gea González”, Mexico City, Mexico

    Alejandra Auza Benavides

  2. Program in Speech and Hearing, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, New York, USA

    Richard G. Schwartz

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Arias-Trejo, N., Barrón-Martínez, J.B. (2017). Language Skills in Down Syndrome. In: Auza Benavides, A., Schwartz, R. (eds) Language Development and Disorders in Spanish-speaking Children. Literacy Studies, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53646-0_16

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