Short-term memory and vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome and children with specific language impairment.
A longitudinal comparison was made between development of verbal and visuo-spatial short-term memory and vocabulary in children with Down syndrome (DS), children with specific language impairment (SLI), and typically developing children as a control group. Participants were 12 children with DS (6 males, 6 females; mean chronological age 9y 9mo [SD 2.8 mo], range 8y 6mo to 11y 4mo); nine children with SLI (4 males, 5 females; mean chronological age 3y 9mo [SD 4.8mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 5mo); and 12 typically developing children (5 males, 7 females; mean chronological age 4y 4mo [SD 3.9mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 3mo). Participants were matched on mental age (mean mental age 4y 3mo). All participants completed verbal short-term memory, visuo-spatial short-term memory, and expressive and receptive vocabulary tasks on three occasions over 1 year. Similarities were seen in the clinical groups for verbal short-term memory. There was some evidence of difficulty in visuo-spatial short-term memory in the children with SLI relative to the other groups, but all three groups showed overlap in visuo-spatial short-term memory performance. At the final time-point vocabulary performance in the clinical groups was similar; the typically developing children showed higher vocabulary abilities than both clinical groups.
Hick
Rachel F
RF
School of Psychological Sciences, Human Communication and Deafness, Humanities Building, Devas Street, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Botting
Nicola
N
Conti-Ramsden
Gina
G
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary