Speech, language and communication

Most children learn to talk with such ease in the first few year of life that parents do not have to pay too much attention to how they do this. However, the ability to communicate using spoken language is not only important for being able to share information and ideas, to ask questions and to make relationships with others, it also underpins the abilities to think, reason and remember.

These mental activities are frequently carried out using ‘silent speech in mind’. Therefore the development of spoken language abilities will influence all aspects of a child’s social, practical and mental life. Conversely, poor spoken language will have an adverse effect on all aspects of an individual’s life and may lead to frustration and social isolation as well as reducing employment opportunities.

Children with Down syndrome typically find learning to talk difficult, they progress more slowly than other children, find grammar difficult, and even when they are able to talk in sentences they often have difficulty in producing clear speech. Research shows that their speech and language skills are usually more delayed than would be expected in relation to their non-verbal  cognitive abilities. The challenge is to understand why this should be the case.

Research

Understanding the speech and language difficulties of children with Down syndrome and finding effective ways to tackle them has been a core focus of the Trust’s research work since it started in 1980. It has been linked with the Trust’s work on literacy and on working memory as these areas of cognitive development are interlinked.

Improving teenage language

A longitudinal training study from 1987–1990 demonstrated that it is possible to improve the grammar in the expressive language of teenagers with Down syndrome. Print activities formed part of the training and those teenagers with the poorest working memory skills benefited most from the print – even though they were non-readers at the start and considered to be the most cognitively delayed of the group by their teachers^[1,2]. Even more dramatically, the Trust’s recent study of teenage progress showed that it is possible to improve spoken language significantly in inclusive environments with adapted teaching which takes account of the specific cognitive profile of children with Down syndrome and to remove the expected lag between spoken language and social and practical skills. The teenagers had significantly  better sentence structures and clearer speech when compared to children not receiving the same input^[3,4].

Language development

A number of studies have looked at aspects of early language development using parental diary records and used this information to provide normative guidelines^[5,6]. Other work has looked at maternal interaction styles^[7] and some of the effects of early intervention programmes^[8].

Link between vocabulary size and grammar

One important study has demonstrated the same link between vocabulary and grammar as seen in all children – that is that until children have a spoken vocabulary of over 200 different words they do not begin to use any grammar. The practical implication of this finding is the importance of teaching early vocabulary in early intervention programmes to ensure that the child has the foundation from which to develop grammar.^{[see 9]} This piece of work led to the Trust developing Vocabulary Checklists to guide early vocabulary teaching.

Language in adult years

One study supported by the Trust has demonstrated that it is possible to improve spoken language skills and introduce reading to individuals with Down syndrome in their adult years^[10].

Action research

Much of the Trust’s work in the speech and language field may best be described as action research as Trust staff have developed intervention strategies, drawing on research from around the world on typical and atypical speech and language development, as well as research with children with Down syndrome. Their experience has been shared through direct services, video material, training and publications.

Impact

The work of the Trust has contributed to drawing attention to the speech and language needs of children with Down syndrome since the early 1980s. Understanding and improving spoken language has been a major focus for the work of the Trust as is indicated by the extent of the published work on this topic. Through its extensive programme of training, the Trust has made a major contribution to the understanding of spoken language issues, the links between working memory, reading and spoken language and to the provision of effective interventions.

Education

The Trust has published 6 books and 3 video/DVDs on speech and language giving up to date reviews of the information and practical guidance. The Trust’s Research Director has also been co-editor of an expert book on the topic for an international professional readership. The Trust has also published 11 papers in refereed journals  with 3 further papers currently in preparation, 10 articles in other publications and presented 28 keynotes/invited papers and presentations at peer-reviewed  national and international conferences.

References

1. Buckley, S. J. (1993). Developing the speech and language skills of teenagers with Down's syndrome. Down's Syndrome: Research and Practice, 1, 63-71.
2. Buckley, S.J (1995). Increasing the conversational utterance length of teenagers with Down’s syndrome. Down’s Syndrome: Research and Practice. 3, 3, 110-116.
3. Buckley, S.J., Bird, G., Sacks, B. & Archer, T (2006). A comparison of mainstream and special school education for teenagers with Down syndrome: Implications for parents and teachers . Down Syndrome Research and Practice 9 (3), 54-67.
4. Buckley, S., Bird, G., Sacks, B., & Archer, T. (2002). The achievements of teenagers with Down syndrome. Down Syndrome News and Update, 2(3), 90-96. ISSN: 1463-6212
5. Oliver, B, & Buckley, S. J. (1994). The language development of children with Down’s syndrome: First words to two word phrases. Down’s Syndrome: Research and Practice, 2, 71- 75. ISSN: 0968-7912.
6. Rutter, T. & Buckley, S. J. (1994). The acquisition of grammatical morphemes in children with Down’s syndrome. Down’s Syndrome: Research and Practice. 2, 76-82. ISSN: 0968-7912.
7. Byrne, A. & Buckley, S.J. (1993). The significance of maternal speech styles for children with Down’s syndrome. Down’s Syndrome: Research and Practice, 1, 107-117. ISSN: 0968-7912.
8. Le Prevost, P. (2001) The Effectiveness of Speech and Language Intervention for Pre-school Children with Down Syndrome: MPhil Thesis University of Portsmouth.
9. Buckley, S. J. (2000). Speech and language development for individuals with Down syndrome - An overview. Portsmouth, UK: The Down Syndrome Educational Trust.
10. Jenkins, C. (2001) Adults with Down syndrome: An investigation of the effects of reading on language skills: PhD Thesis. University of Portsmouth.

A full list of publications related to work in this area is also available.