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Children with Down syndrome demonstrate an intricate profile of strengths and limitations in pragmatic aspects of language.聽

By Amy Sanders
Course: Semantics (Ling 3430)
Advisor: Prof. Barbara Fox
LURA 2018

The Early Circles program at 欧美口爆视频 Boulder offers information and coaching to families with children with Down syndrome.聽During the summer of 2016, I participated in the Early Circles internship through the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder鈥檚 Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic (SLHC). The program paired me with a specific family as part of the experience. While working with the child, H.W., I implemented various interaction strategies to promote learning and communication through play. I learned so much about family-centered communication intervention approaches and translated this knowledge into experience when working closely with the family. Although the internship only took place over the summer, I built a great connection with the family and now provide childcare for H.W. to this day.聽

H.W. is three years old and attends a full-day preschool in Boulder. She loves preparing, serving, and eating meals in her play kitchen! She also enjoys spending time in the 鈥渞eal鈥� kitchen with her parents while they cook; recently, she has started adding salt to the pan. H.W. is very chatty as evidenced by the immense number of signs that she uses. We communicate using both English and some sign language. She is currently taking a climbing class and loves it!聽

I immediately thought of my fabulous experiences with H.W. when Dr. Barbara Fox noted that we could choose any topic for our research paper in my course on Semantics (LING 3430), as long as it correlated with a class topic. Lucky for me, Dr. Fox had recently lectured about pragmatics! I imagined that many individuals thought of pragmatic skills solely in relation to being 鈥渟ociable,鈥� but I knew that the area of pragmatics encompassed so much more.聽

For my paper, I decided to research pragmatic skills in individuals with Down syndrome. I researched various areas of pragmatics, including narrative skills, topic maintenance, turn-taking, communication repair, and intent. Although I consulted the literature, I also video recorded interactions of H.W. and myself. It was a wonderful experience to review the videos and consider H.W.鈥檚 pragmatic skills. Writing this paper was especially meaningful to me because of my connection with H.W. and my interests in both linguistics and Down syndrome.聽

After much research, I concluded that there was a lot of variability among individuals with Down syndrome. For example, one study found that children with Down syndrome had strong narrative skills as they generated significantly longer and more complex narratives than an expressive-language-matched-group (Boudreau & Chapman 2000, p. 1154). Another study showed that children with Down syndrome rarely initiated communication and that turn-taking was infrequent. These studies, combined with additional research, suggest that people with Down syndrome demonstrate an intricate profile of strengths and limitations in pragmatic aspects of language.聽

Even further, some of what I found working with H.W. did not align with specific studies that I consulted. For example, while one study noted that children with Down syndrome rarely engaged in turn-taking, H.W. had strong turn-taking skills. One example of her great turn-taking abilities is evident when we read books together. Currently, one of her favorite books is titled 鈥淚 Like Berries, Do You?鈥� by Marjorie W. Pitzer. The book includes pictures of children eating various kinds of food such as chicken or bananas. Each page reads, 鈥淚 like ________, do you?鈥� When I read the book to H.W., she responds to the question immediately following each time that I present it. She waits for me to finish speaking before she responds, thus indicating that she鈥檚 aware that I have a specific time to speak and that when I鈥檓 finished speaking, it鈥檚 her turn to talk. Because she knows the word 鈥測eah,鈥� she is able to respond verbally at just the right moment.

Overall, additional research is required in order to better understand the pragmatic skills in individuals with Down syndrome at various linguistic stages and age levels. Yet, despite variability, current studies seem to suggest that individuals with Down syndrome have relatively strong pragmatic skills. From personal experience working with H.W., I find this to be true.