The development of early expressive vocabulary in children with Down Syndrome

A delay in expressive language in children with Down Syndrome (DS) is common, and often a major challenge of the condition. This study aimed to investigate the early expressive vocabulary skills of Maltese children with DS, whose first languages were either Maltese or English, while taking into account chronological age. Language preference was further explored in the context of a bilingual environment. A multi-method design was implemented across seven participants whose language abilities ranged from the expression of single words in isolation to simple word combinations. The expressive vocabularies of four boys and three girls between 2;10 and 11;9 years were assessed through caregiver report, picture naming and language sampling. Performance of the children was analysed in relation to local findings on lexical production in typically-developing children. The study revealed that productive vocabularies of Maltese bilingual children with DS escalated with increasing age, notwithstanding inevitable individual variation.peer-reviewe

First-Year Papers Cover Page and Editorial Board

EDITORS (in alphabetical order) Andrew Calabrese Glory Kim Linh Le Phong Quach Chinmay Rayarikar Cionna Rosenthal Sarah Talcott Elizabeth Valenzuela Phillip Winser Editors were drawn from the Class of 2018 Deans’ Scholars Editing, Layout, and Publishing Tennyson O’Donnell, Director, Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, and Allan K. Smith Lecturer in English Composition Dania Field, Coordinator of First-Year Academic Experiences Amy Harrell, Librarian, Digital Projects The First-Year Papers were established in 1996-1997 to recognize the excellent written work of the first-year students at Trinity College. Each year, submissions are drawn from First-Year Seminars and from courses associated with the Cities, Guided Studies, InterArts, and Interdisciplinary Science Programs. The First-Year Papers Volume 19, 2014 – 2015 Published by Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut, September 201