Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/1290 on 10.04.2017 by CS (TIS)Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/1290
Submitted by Collection Services ([email protected]) on 2013-02-11T09:11:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1996MoorePHD.pdf: 49481100 bytes, checksum: b3d3efc37826e75b5d5bd1ec2683cc99 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Collection Services([email protected]) on 2013-02-11T09:17:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1996MoorePHD.pdf: 49481100 bytes, checksum: b3d3efc37826e75b5d5bd1ec2683cc99 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-02-11T09:17:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1996MoorePHD.pdf: 49481100 bytes, checksum: b3d3efc37826e75b5d5bd1ec2683cc99 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1996-12Previous research has highlighted a different pattern in the use of grammatical forms
to successfully maintain coherent discourse by individuals with Down's syndrome. To
maintain coherent discourse both linguistic and non-linguistic information must be
integrated and maintained in a mental representation of current discourse. The ability
of children with Down's syndrome to use such a mental representation has been assessed
in this study.
The ability of adults with Down's syndrome to comprehend and produce a range of
grammatical forms was initially assessed, using a grammaticality judgement task, an
imitation task, and a spontaneous speech sample. Results indicated that the production
and comprehension of pronouns was found moderately difficult. The successful use of
a pronoun depends on the ability to use a mental representation to retain information
about its antecedent in order to assist correct interpretation and avoid ambiguity.
A narrative task was used to investigate the use of referential forms by children with
Down's syndrome and typically developing children. The effects of certain contextual
features on the use of referential forms were investigated: the status of each character
and the number of characters in the story; the method of presenting the story; and the
position of a listener while the story was narrated.
When narrating a story typically developing children distinguished the status of
characters in the stories by consistently using different referential forms for each. As
age increased this strategy was used more successfully and flexibly. Children with
Down's syndrome did not use referential forms in the same way as typically developing
children. It is likely that this is a consequence of a difficulty in maintaining information
about the whole story-where many sources of information must be accessed, integrated
and maintained in a mental representation. At a local level within the story, children
with Down's syndrome used referential strategies successfully, demonstrating an ability
to integrate limited amounts of information about characters in a story. The inability
to maintain information in a mental representation across longer periods of discourse
indicates the importance of short term memory in language production
