Cat, Rat, and Rugrats: Narrative Comprehension in Young Children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

We examined whether young children with Down syndrome are sensitive to the causal structure of complex, authentic and age-appropriate stories, whether their narrative comprehension is similar across presentation media (i.e., television vs. audio), and whether their narrative comprehension is related to their basic language skills. Twelve 6- and 7-year old children with Down syndrome participated. Results indicated that: (a) the children were sensitive to the story’s causal structure, a central aspect of successful narrative comprehension, especially to that of the TV narrative, (b) children’s narrative comprehension measures (e.g., amount recalled) were similar across media, and (c) children’s narrative comprehension skills were relatively independent from basic language skills such as vocabulary, phonological awareness, or letter knowledge. Results are discussed with respect to theories of language comprehension and approaches to instruction of children with Down syndrome.