This study analyzed the quality and quantity of intentional communication in four toddlers with Down Syndrome (DS) and eight subjects matched for either chronological or developmental age. Analysis of Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale scores indicated that DS subjects expressed different communicative functions and used different…

This study compared verbal comprehension, verbal production, and gesture production in 40 children (ages 10-49 months) with Down Syndrome (DS) and 40 normally developing children (ages 8-17 months). DS children showed a dissociation between verbal comprehension and production but synchronous development between vocal lexical comprehension and…

Evaluation of effects of manual signing on toddlers' verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors in an inclusive preschool found that teacher signing was accompanied by increases in communicative interactions by toddlers with and without disabilities. No reductive effects on communicative verbalizations were observed for either group. (Contains…

This review of research on language development of hearing children of deaf parents identified three areas of focus: (1) oral language development; (2) sign language development; and (3) mode of communication--oral and/or manual. Areas of future study are suggested. (Author/DB)