Publications by authors named "Anne van Bysterveldt"
Article Synopsis
- Previous studies have examined the expressive vocabularies of preschool children with Down syndrome, focusing on both spoken and signed forms, exploring word types and preferences for expression modality.
- The current study aims to analyze how vocabulary size relates to word type and expressions used over time in children aged 36-66 months, utilizing a detailed inventory assessment completed by their mothers.
- Results showed that children's vocabularies mostly contained social words, with observable preferences for mediums of expression and significant individual variations in language development trajectories, including some regressions in vocabulary size.
Article Synopsis
- A study involving 82 preschool children with complex neurodevelopmental disabilities found that communicative language use needs to reach a certain level before vocabulary size becomes the main predictor of their ability to combine words.
- Researchers used tools like the Language Use Inventory and the MacArthur-Bates CDI to analyze data, revealing that pragmatic skills (the ability to communicate about various topics) are more crucial for early word combination than just having a large vocabulary.
- Once children establish basic pragmatic abilities, vocabulary size becomes a stronger predictor for their later ability to combine words effectively.
Background: Communication and language development are areas of particular weakness for young children with Down syndrome. Caregivers' interaction with children influences language development, so many early interventions involve training parents how best to respond to their children and provide appropriate language stimulation. Thus, these interventions are mediated through parents, who in turn are trained and coached in the implementation of interventions by clinicians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Home Literacy Environment of Preschool-Age Children with Autism or Down Syndrome.
Folia Phoniatr Logop
August 2018
Aims: This exploratory study investigated if there were differences in the home literacy environment of preschool children on the autism spectrum and preschool children with Down syndrome to determine if the home literacy environment may potentially be associated with strengths or weaknesses in children's social communication skills.
Methods: A total of 111 parents of preschoolers with identified disabilities completed a home literacy questionnaire.
Results: Results indicated that both groups of parents started reading to their children at an early age and owned at least 25 children's books.
A descriptive study examining phonological awareness and literacy development in children with Down syndrome.
Folia Phoniatr Logop
October 2016
Objective And Method: This article describes the profiles of a cohort of 77 New Zealand children with Down syndrome (aged between 5 and 14 years) in areas of particular importance to reading development, namely phonological awareness, word level reading and letter knowledge. Assessment of reading accuracy and comprehension of connected text, as well as further phonological awareness knowledge, was measured in 25 of the more advanced readers in this cohort.
Results: The findings showed the expected development with increasing age for letter knowledge, phoneme level awareness and reading tasks.
Background: Personal narratives are descriptions of past events experienced by the speaker and are one of the most commonly found forms of narration in children. The ability to tell personal narratives is considered critical for socio-emotional wellbeing and academic performance.
Aims: This study investigated the personal narrative skills of 25 children with Down syndrome (age 5;11-13;1 years) who attended predominantly mainstream primary schools in New Zealand and were classified as beginning readers.
Background: Children with Down syndrome experience difficulty with both spoken and written language acquisition, however controlled intervention studies to improve these difficulties are rare and have typically focused on improving one language domain.
Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of an integrated intervention approach on the speech, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness development of ten pre-school children with Down syndrome aged between 4;4 and 5;5.
Methods & Procedures: A multiple single-subject design was used to evaluate treatment effectiveness.