Embedding key word sign prompts in a shared book reading activity: The impact on communication between children with Down syndrome and their parents

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dc.contributor.authorFrizelle, Pauline
dc.contributor.authorAllenby, Rebecca
dc.contributor.authorHassett, Elizabeth
dc.contributor.authorHolland, Orlaith
dc.contributor.authorRyan, Eimear
dc.contributor.authorDahly, Darren
dc.contributor.authorO'Toole, Ciara
dc.contributor.funderLámh - Communication Augmentation Sign System Ltd., Irelanden
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-24T15:40:19Z
dc.date.available2023-01-24T15:40:19Z
dc.date.issued2022-12-31
dc.date.updated2023-01-24T15:32:33Z
dc.description.abstractBackground: Children with Down syndrome have speech and language difficulties that are disproportionate to their overall intellectual ability and relative strengths in the use of gesture. Shared book reading between parents and their children provides an effective context in which language development can be facilitated. However, children with Down syndrome often take a passive role in shared book reading and the use of key word signing (KWS) as a shared book reading technique has never been investigated. Aims: This study aimed to compare children with Down syndrome's participation and use of KWS across two methods of shared book reading – one in which a book had key-word sign prompts embedded (signed condition) and the other in which a book was read as normal (unsigned condition). Measures of child and parent communicative behaviour were taken in each condition to establish if differences emerged. Methods & Procedures: A total of 36 children with Down syndrome (aged between 18 and 61 months) and their mothers took part in the study. Parent–child dyads were videoed at home reading two books, one in a signed and one in an unsigned condition. Child measures included total number of signs produced in each condition and levels of attention and initiation as measured by the Pivotal Behaviour Rating Scale. Parent measures included total number of utterances, mean length of utterance (MLU) in morphemes and vocabulary diversity (VOCD). Parental measures were transcribed using the Codes for Human Analysis Transcripts (CHAT) software and analysed by the Computerised Language Analysis software (CLAN). Contrasts in outcomes between the signed and unsigned conditions were estimated using Poisson and linear mixed-effects models, determined by the type of data. Outcomes & Results: Results showed that children attempted to sign significantly more in the signed than unsigned condition, as well as showing significant increases in their levels of attention and initiation. There was also a significant increase in the total number of utterances used by parents in the signed versus unsigned condition and a decrease in MLU. VOCD was similar in both conditions. Conclusions & Implications: This study shows that the simple act of embedding key word signs into commercially available books, during shared book reading between parents and young children with Down syndrome, positively affects children's participation (initiation and attention) and use of KWS. The use of KWS as a core shared book reading technique may therefore be a fruitful avenue to facilitate growth in the language abilities of young children with Down syndrome.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationFrizelle, P., Allenby, R., Hassett, E., Holland, O., Ryan, E., Dahly, D. and O’Toole, C. (2022) ‘Embedding key word sign prompts in a shared book reading activity: The impact on communication between children with Down syndrome and their parents’, International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, (17 pp). https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12842en
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/1460-6984.12842en
dc.identifier.endpage17en
dc.identifier.issn1368-2822
dc.identifier.journaltitleInternational Journal of Language and Communication Disordersen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/14120
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWileyen
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12842
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectChildrenen
dc.subjectDown syndromeen
dc.subjectKey word signingen
dc.subjectShared book readingen
dc.subjectLanguage comprehensionen
dc.subjectVocabulary developmenten
dc.subjectYoung childrenen
dc.subjectPreschool childrenen
dc.subjectJoint attentionen
dc.subjectSpeechen
dc.subjectInterventionen
dc.subjectSkillsen
dc.subjectAdolescentsen
dc.subjectAcquisitionen
dc.titleEmbedding key word sign prompts in a shared book reading activity: The impact on communication between children with Down syndrome and their parentsen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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