Referential communication abilities in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. (3rd September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van Den Heuvel, Ellen; ReuterskiöLd, Christina; Solot, Cynthia; Manders, Eric; Swillen, Ann; Zink, Inge
• Is Part Of: International journal of speech-language pathology. Volume 19:Number 5(2017:Oct.)
• Page Start: 490
• Page End: 502
• Publication Date: 2017-09-03
• Subjects: Referential communication -- 22q11.2 deletion syndrome -- cross-cultural; Speech disorders -- Periodicals; Language disorders -- Periodicals; Speech therapy -- Periodicals; 616.855005
• DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2016.1221456
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-9507

Abstract

Abstract: Purpose : This study describes the performance on a perspective- and role-taking task in 27 children, ages 6–13 years, with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). A cross-cultural design comparing Dutch- and English-speaking children with 22q11.2DS explored the possibility of cultural differences. Method : Chronologically age-matched and younger typically developing (TD) children matched for receptive vocabulary served as control groups to identify challenges in referential communication. Results : The utterances of children with 22q11.2DS were characterised as short and simple in lexical and grammatical terms. However, from a language use perspective, their utterances were verbose, ambiguous and irrelevant given the pictured scenes. They tended to elaborate on visual details and conveyed off-topic, extraneous information when participating in a barrier-game procedure. Both types of aberrant utterances forced a listener to consistently infer the intended message. Moreover, children with 22q11.2DS demonstrated difficulty selecting correct speech acts in accordance with contextual cues during a role-taking task. Conclusion : Both English- and Dutch-speaking children with 22q11.2DS showed impoverished information transfer and an increased number of elaborations, suggesting a cross-cultural syndrome-specific feature.