Neuropsychological correlates of word identification in Down syndrome.

In order to better understand the neuropsychological underpinnings of the relative strength in word identification in individuals with Down syndrome, the performance of children and adolescents with Down syndrome (N=29) was compared to the performance of a nonverbal-IQ matched group of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities of mixed etiologies (N=20) on measures letter/word identification and cognitive-linguistic functioning. Though no between-group differences were observed for letter/word identification or visual processing performance, individuals with Down syndrome showed significantly poorer verbal short-term memory and receptive vocabulary skills. In terms of neuropsychological correlates of letter/word identification, significant linear associations were observed between letter/word identification (K-ABC reading/decoding) and verbal short-term memory (K-ABC number recall), as well as receptive vocabulary (PPVT-III) and visual processing (MVPT-R) in both groups. However, when only children with word identification competence (as opposed to letter identification competence) were included in analyses, visual perception scores (total MVPT-R) were significantly associated with word identification in the Down syndrome group, but not in the mixed comparison group. Implications for etiology-specific instructional approaches are discussed.

[1]  A. Kaiser,et al.  Enhancing Children's Communication: Research Foundations for Intervention , 1993 .

[2]  A. Silverstein,et al.  Performance of Down syndrome individuals on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. , 1982, American journal of mental deficiency.

[3]  R. Hodapp,et al.  Genetics and Mental Retardation Syndromes: A New Look at Behavior and Interventions , 2000 .

[4]  P. Sloper,et al.  Factors related to the academic attainments of children with Down's syndrome. , 1990, The British journal of educational psychology.

[5]  Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird,et al.  Reading and phonological awareness in children with Down syndrome: A longitudinal study , 2000 .

[6]  Billie Shepperdson.  Attainments in reading and number of teenagers and adults with Down syndrome , 1994 .

[7]  Is sensitivity to rhyme a developmental precursor to sensitivity to phoneme?: Evidence from individuals with Down syndrome , 2002 .

[8]  Angela Byrne,et al.  Investigating the literacy, language and memory skills of children with Down syndrome , 1995 .

[9]  U Bellugi,et al.  Evidence from two genetic syndromes for a dissociation between verbal and visual-spatial short-term memory. , 1994, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[10]  G. Cossu,et al.  When reading is acquired but phonemic awareness is not: A study of literacy in Down's syndrome , 1993, Cognition.

[11]  L. Nadel,et al.  Down syndrome : living and learning in the community , 1995 .

[12]  Angela Byrne,et al.  Reading, language and memory skills: a comparative longitudinal study of children with Down syndrome and their mainstream peers. , 2002, The British journal of educational psychology.

[13]  L. Cupples,et al.  Phonological awareness and oral reading skill in children with Down syndrome. , 2000, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[14]  D. Boudreau,et al.  Literacy skills in children and adolescents with Down syndrome , 2002 .

[15]  D. Gunn,et al.  Relationships between reading, phonological skills and language development in individuals with Down syndrome: A five year follow-up study , 2002 .

[16]  J. Pezzullo,et al.  Cognitive and learning processes in children with Down syndrome. , 1987, Research in developmental disabilities.

[17]  C. Mervis,et al.  Methodological Issues in Group-Matching Designs: α Levels for Control Variable Comparisons and Measurement Characteristics of Control and Target Variables , 2004, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[18]  A. Baddeley,et al.  Genetically dissociated components of working memory: evidence from Downs and Williams syndrome , 1999, Neuropsychologia.

[19]  Carolyn B. Mervis,et al.  Contrasting Patterns of Cognitive Abilities of 9- and 10-Year-Olds With Williams Syndrome or Down Syndrome , 1999 .

[20]  H. Fletcher,et al.  Phonological awareness in children with Down syndrome. , 2002, Down's syndrome, research and practice : the journal of the Sarah Duffen Centre.

[21]  R. Evans.  Phonological awareness in children with Down syndrome , 1994 .

[22]  Patricia Logan Oelwein,et al.  Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Teachers. Topics in Down Syndrome. , 1995 .

[23]  P. Gunn,et al.  New approaches to Down syndrome , 1996 .

[24]  L. Leavitt,et al.  Improving the communication of people with Down syndrome , 1999 .

[25]  B. Joyce,et al.  Models of Teaching , 2024 .

[26]  L. Hildman,et al.  Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test , 1993 .

[27]  S. Buckley,et al.  The Adolescent with Down's Syndrome: Life for the Teenager and for the Family. , 1987 .

[28]  M. Thase,et al.  Age-related neuropsychological deficits in Down's syndrome. , 1984, Biological psychiatry.

[29]  E. Hjelmquist,et al.  A comparative, descriptive study of reading and writing skills among non-speaking children: a preliminary study. , 1996, European journal of disorders of communication : the journal of the College of Speech and Language Therapists, London.