MATERNAL SPEECH TO PRELINGUISTIC CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 89  (5) , 451-458
Abstract
The linguistic environment of prelinguistic children with Down''s syndrome who were cognitively ready to talk was investigated. Maternal speech to these children was compared to maternal speech to 3 groups of nonhandicapped children: 1 matched for level of linguistic development; 1 matched for MA [mental age] and 1 matched for CA [chronological age]. Mother and child participated in a 45-min free-play session, using a specially chosen set of toys. The language of the mothers of the children with Down''s syndrome differed significantly from that of the mothers of each of the groups of nonhandicapped children with regard to the functional language features studied.