Susan J Loveall1, Marie Moore Channell2, Leonard Abbeduto3, Frances A Conners4. 1. University of Mississippi, United States; University of Alabama, United States. Electronic address: sjloveal@go.olemiss.edu. 2. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States; University of Alabama, United States. 3. MIND Institute and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, United States. 4. University of Alabama, United States.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite research identifying verb knowledge as a strong predictor of later syntactic skills in typical development, virtually no research has examined verb development in Down syndrome. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine verb production (density, diversity, and type-token ratios) by individuals with Down syndrome in the context of story generation relative to two comparison groups - nonverbal cognitive ability level matches with typical development and chronological age matches with mixed-etiology intellectual disability. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Thirty-five participants with Down syndrome (11-21 years), 27 participants with intellectual disability (13-20 years), and 29 participants with typical development (4-6 years) completed a narrative story generation task. Transcripts were coded and analyzed for verb production. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Examining overall verb production, participants with Down syndrome produced narratives with less verb density than participants with typical development and had smaller verb type-token ratios than participants with intellectual disability. Upon examining lexical verb production, participants with Down syndrome produced narratives with less lexical verb density than participants with typical development. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results indicate that individuals with Down syndrome have a developmentally appropriate diversity of verbs in their lexicon but are not using verbs as frequently as comparison groups.
BACKGROUND: Despite research identifying verb knowledge as a strong predictor of later syntactic skills in typical development, virtually no research has examined verb development in Down syndrome. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine verb production (density, diversity, and type-token ratios) by individuals with Down syndrome in the context of story generation relative to two comparison groups - nonverbal cognitive ability level matches with typical development and chronological age matches with mixed-etiology intellectual disability. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Thirty-five participants with Down syndrome (11-21 years), 27 participants with intellectual disability (13-20 years), and 29 participants with typical development (4-6 years) completed a narrative story generation task. Transcripts were coded and analyzed for verb production. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Examining overall verb production, participants with Down syndrome produced narratives with less verb density than participants with typical development and had smaller verb type-token ratios than participants with intellectual disability. Upon examining lexical verb production, participants with Down syndrome produced narratives with less lexical verb density than participants with typical development. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results indicate that individuals with Down syndrome have a developmentally appropriate diversity of verbs in their lexicon but are not using verbs as frequently as comparison groups.
Authors: Leonard Abbeduto; Melissa M Murphy; Stephanie W Cawthon; Erica K Richmond; Michelle D Weissman; Selma Karadottir; Anne O'Brien Journal: Am J Ment Retard Date: 2003-05
Authors: James A Hendrix; Angelika Amon; Leonard Abbeduto; Stamatis Agiovlasitis; Tarek Alsaied; Heather A Anderson; Lisa J Bain; Nicole Baumer; Anita Bhattacharyya; Dusan Bogunovic; Kelly N Botteron; George Capone; Priya Chandan; Isabelle Chase; Brian Chicoine; Cécile Cieuta-Walti; Lara R DeRuisseau; Sophie Durand; Anna Esbensen; Juan Fortea; Sandra Giménez; Ann-Charlotte Granholm; Laura J Hahn; Elizabeth Head; Hampus Hillerstrom; Lisa M Jacola; Matthew P Janicki; Joan M Jasien; Angela R Kamer; Raymond D Kent; Bernard Khor; Jeanne B Lawrence; Catherine Lemonnier; Amy Feldman Lewanda; William Mobley; Paul E Moore; Linda Pollak Nelson; Nicolas M Oreskovic; Ricardo S Osorio; David Patterson; Sonja A Rasmussen; Roger H Reeves; Nancy Roizen; Stephanie Santoro; Stephanie L Sherman; Nasreen Talib; Ignacio E Tapia; Kyle M Walsh; Steven F Warren; A Nicole White; Guang William Wong; John S Yi Journal: Transl Sci Rare Dis Date: 2021-04-15