Teaching children with Down syndrome to read
01 Jan 1993-Down Syndrome Research and Practice (Down Syndrome Education International)-Vol. 1, Iss: 1, pp 34-39
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the development and expertise in the teaching of reading to children with Down syndrome since 1980 and the insights that they have gained into the children's language learning difficulties while teaching them to read.
Abstract: This article describes the development of our interest and expertise in the teaching of reading to children with Down syndrome since 1980 and the insights that we have gained into the children's language learning difficulties while teaching them to read. The readers' attention is drawn to the links between spoken language skills and reading skills and the differences between the strategies an ordinary five year old can use when learning to read and those available to a child or teenager with Down syndrome. The methods of introducing and developing reading skills are outlined, emphasising the principles on which they are based. The same methods are advocated whatever the age of the child at the outset. The benefits of even limited reading instruction for developing good spoken language are emphasised.
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TL;DR: Recent findings related to intellectual ability, language development, memory development, executive function development, adaptive behavior skills, and behavior as it relates to learning by children with Williams syndrome are summarized.
Abstract: Portrayals of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23, have reached the general public through a variety of media formats. These descriptions are often paradoxical in nature with individuals with WS repeatedly described as demonstrating near-normal language despite the presence of significant intellectual disability and as being extremely sociable and friendly in spite of their seemingly limited understanding of basic social norms. While this depiction of WS served to attract the interest of basic-science researchers, the results of subsequent studies have provided a more nuanced view. For example, rather than across-the-board "near-normal" language, children with WS demonstrate relative strengths in concrete vocabulary and verbal short-term memory, grammatical abilities at the level expected for general intellectual ability, and considerable weakness in relational/conceptual language and pragmatics (social use of language). To provide a more thorough characterization of the WS behavioral phenotype, we summarize recent findings related to intellectual ability, language development, memory development, executive function development, adaptive behavior skills, and behavior as it relates to learning by children with WS. Finally, we briefly discuss intervention approaches that may help children with WS to achieve their full potential.
178 citations
Cites background from "Teaching children with Down syndrom..."
...Furthermore, as has been demonstrated for children in the general population [e.g., Ehri, 2004] and children with DS [e.g., Cupples and Iacono, 2002; Bourassa et al., 2005], children with WS who are taught to read using a systematic phonics approach read significantly better than do children who…...
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...…as has been demonstrated for children in the general population [e.g., Ehri, 2004] and children with DS [e.g., Cupples and Iacono, 2002; Bourassa et al., 2005], children with WS who are taught to read using a systematic phonics approach read significantly better than do children who…...
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TL;DR: Focal colours were remembered significantly more successfully than non-focal colours by the typically developing children, and their focal colour memory was significantly related to digit span, but only Corsi span was related to focal Colour memory in the group with Down syndrome.
Abstract: Background This paper reports information on the visual and verbal short-term memory of individuals with Down syndrome. Methods Colour memory in 16 children and adolescents with Down syndrome was compared with that of 16 typically developing children matched for receptive vocabulary. It was suggested that focal colours should be remembered more successfully than non-focal colours on the basis that the former could be remembered using a verbal recoding strategy. However, children with Down syndrome, for whom a deficit in verbal short-term memory makes the use of such a strategy unlikely, should remember focal and non-focal colours equally well. More importantly, if individuals with Down syndrome have more developed visual memory abilities than control children, they should outperform them in recognising non-focal colours. Results Although the group with Down syndrome demonstrated significantly better Corsi blocks performance than controls, and displayed similar levels of colour knowledge, no advantage for colour memory was found. Non-focal colours were remembered by individuals with Down syndrome as successfully as focal colours but there was no indication of a visual memory advantage over controls. Focal colours were remembered significantly more successfully than non-focal colours by the typically developing children. Conclusion Their focal colour memory was significantly related to digit span, but only Corsi span was related to focal colour memory in the group with Down syndrome.
129 citations
Abstract: Research has found that many children andadolescents with Down syndrome acquire somelevel of reading ability. Studies to date havedocumented that cognition, language, andphonological awareness contribute tovariability observed in performance onconventional literacy measures for thispopulation, although the extent of relativecontributions varies among studies. Less isknown about the relationship of early literacyskills to conventional reading, or howrelationships among variables that supportliteracy acquisition are similar or differentfrom those observed in typically developingchildren. In this project, cognition,language, early literacy, phonologicalawareness and reading skills were examined in agroup of children and adolescents with Downsyndrome (aged 5;06 to 17;03) and a group oftypically developing children (aged 3;06 to5;03) matched for nonverbal cognition. Resultsrevealed broad variability in performance onearly literacy and reading measures in personswith Down syndrome. Comparisons with mental age-matchedchildren indicated differences in the relativecontribution of language and cognition toreading ability, with language being a strongerpredictor in the group with Down syndrome.
120 citations
TL;DR: The hypothesis that although reading levels in Williams syndrome depend on phonological skills, the full development of their reading is compromised by weak semantics is supported.
Abstract: In this paper, we make a fundamental distinction between literacy attainment scores and the actual process of learning to read, and examine these two aspects of reading in atypical development. Reading skills in a group of children and adults with the genetic disorder Williams syndrome (WS) were compared to a group of typically developing children matched for reading age and receptive vocabulary scores. Study 1 focused on the product of reading and explored the relationship between reading, general cognition, and phonological skills. Phonological skills were shown to be related to individual differences in reading attainment in both groups, although more weakly in the WS group. Experiment 2 examined the process of learning to read. The two groups were taught to associate abbreviated spellings (cues) with spoken words. The cues differed in their phonetic closeness to the target words, whereas the target words differed on the semantic variable of imageability. Compared to controls, the WS group showed slower learning, less sensitivity to the phonetic quality of the cue, and reduced influence from the imageability of words. The results support the hypothesis that although reading levels in WS depend on phonological skills, the full development of their reading is compromised by weak semantics. The studies highlight the importance in atypical populations of examining both reading levels and the actual process of learning to read.
107 citations
Cites background from "Teaching children with Down syndrom..."
...The relationship has also been shown to hold for people with Down’s syndrome, provided phonological awareness tasks tap implicit rather than explicit skills (Buckley & Bird, 1993; Cardoso-Martin & Frith, 1997; Mercer, 1997)....
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TL;DR: An extensive literature review of studies on visuo-spatial abilities in people with Down syndrome from January 1987 to May 2013 suggests an uneven profile of visuo’s spatial abilities in DS in which some abilities are commensurate with general cognitive ability level, and others are below.
102 citations
Cites background from "Teaching children with Down syndrom..."
...Indeed, visual approaches to reading and memory improvement have been promoted for this reason (e.g., Buckley, 1995; Duarte, Covre, Braga, & de Macedo, 2011; Freeman & Hodapp, 2000; Hodapp & Ly, 2003)....
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