Abstract:
PURPOSE:
to investigate the expressive lexical and communicative performance of children with Down syndrome and reflect on how the understanding of factors interfering in the learning process can contribute to a better adaptation of these children at school.
METHODS:
the proposed sample was comprised of 60 children, but after an analysis of the inclusion criteria, the participants were 20 children, 10 with Down syndrome and 10 with typical neurodevelopment, aged between 36 and 62 months, paired according to gender, chronological age and socioeconomic status. Procedures: interview with family members, Observation of the Communicative Behavior and ABFW Child Language Test - Vocabulary Part B. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and by the application of the Student`s t test (p ≤ 0.05).
RESULTS:
there was a statistically significant difference for the production of words and phrases, narrative, attention span, usual verbal designation and no designation. For substitution processes, the statistical analysis showed no statistically significant difference. In this category, there was a statistically significant difference between groups only for occupations and places. As nine conceptual fields were evaluated, this data did not affect the statistical analysis of the sum of the values of all the fields.
CONCLUSION:
the expressive lexical and communicative performance of children with Down syndrome is lower compared to children with typical neurodevelopment. The school plays an important role in providing a stimulating setting through teaching practices that are appropriate to the learning needs of these children.
Keywords:
Down Syndrome; Vocabulary; Mainstream Education
