title: Referential communication skills in children with Down Syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate referential communication skills in children with Down Syndrome (DS). We studied the development of pragmatic language in relation to nonverbal skills by analyzing referential communication skills in children with DS, in both production and comprehension of referential messages: oriented and/or ambiguous, adequate (appropriate) and inadequate (inappropriate).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population was 24 children: 12 with DS (mean age, 7.8 years) and 12 with normal development (control group) (mean age, 7.4 years). In the first phase (F1), all 24 children were administered a test to evaluate their nonverbal skills, followed in a second phase (F2) by a test to specifically evaluate their referential communication skills.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A strong relationship between nonverbal and referential communication skills was found, in which the nonverbal skills contributed to variations in referential performance, especially among the children with DS. Furthermore, the children with DS showed better performance in the "talking" than the "listener" condition. Within the listener condition, a significant correlation emerged between adequate and inadequate messages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Referential communication skills are influenced by several verbal and nonverbal factors.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy - michele.roccella@unipa.it.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maltese
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pepi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scifo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roccella
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009633:Nonverbal Communication