Prosodic deficits in children with Down syndrome

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate comprehension and production of prosody in a group of nine children with Down syndrome (DS) and to compare their performance to two control groups: one matched to the DS group on chronological age (CA group) and the other one matched to the DS group on receptive language and non-verbal abilities (MA group). Prosody was assessed using the computerised battery “Profiling Elements of Prosody for Speech and Communication” which assesses both prosody form and prosody function. The results showed that the DS group scored significantly lower than the CA matched group on all aspects of prosody under investigation. The DS group scored significantly lower than the MA group on the production of affect and on the production of pre-final narrow focus, and on all four tasks assessing prosody form. The DS group scored, on the whole, significantly higher on the comprehension prosody tasks than on the production ones. This pattern mirrored the one found in the general DS language profile which is characterised with strengths in language comprehension and weaknesses in language production. Interestingly, the receptive language abilities of the DS group did not seem to be related to their prosodic abilities, suggesting that prosody may be an independent cognitive domain.