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Thesis
Examining heterogeneity in language profiles of youth with Down syndrome: associations with co-occurring psychopathology
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jul 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001879
Abstract
Despite decades of research that has identified strengths and weaknesses in the cognitive abilities of individuals with Down syndrome (DS), a considerable amount of heterogeneity, or individual variability in skills, has been documented. One area where this heterogeneity has emerged is in language functioning. Children with DS show an interesting profile of language skills, with a distinct pragmatic (social) language strength when compared to structural (non-social) language. DS, the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, is associated with numerous cooccurring disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Moreover, given links between both ADHD and ASD and language impairments in the general population, there is reason to believe that features of the conditions may relate to individual differences in language outcomes in DS. However, research to date has yet to extensively evaluate this question. Consequently, the present study evaluated the degree in variance among language skills in youth with DS and typical development, how language abilities differ as result of ADHD and ASD symptomatology in DS, and the continuous relation between language abilities and ADHD and ASD symptomatology in DS. Participants included 107 youth with DS and 59 age-matched TD children. Parents completed report measures of language skills and validated measures of ASD and ADHD symptoms. Results of the study revealed that there are large degrees of variance in both social and non-social language skills within the DS sample. Social language skills varied widely in both the TD and DS groups and the groups did not differ in their degree of variance. The variance observed in the structural language composite did differ between groups, with youth with DS displaying a more variance than the TD group. When the DS sample was divided into those with "more" and "less" ASD and ADHD symptoms there were no interactions between language skills and cooccurring symptomatology group - i.e., the profile of language abilities did not differ for those with more or less ASD or ADHD symptoms. When ASD and ADHD symptoms were considered together, ADHD symptoms accounted for a significant amount of the variability seen in social language skills. ADHD and ASD symptoms did not account for a significant amount of variance in non-social language skills. These findings suggest presence of co-occurring psychopathologies, particularly ASD and ADHD, is an important area of further research in children with DS to inform clinical intervention.
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Details
- Title
- Examining heterogeneity in language profiles of youth with Down syndrome
- Creators
- Hannah Elizabeth Grosman
- Contributors
- Nancy Raitano Lee (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- 63 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021230106204721