Role of Syntax in Reading Comprehension in Down Syndrome

摘要 唐氏综合症(DS)是智力残疾的主要原因，除其他因素外，它还影响认知， 学习和适应技能。尽管面临许多重大挑战，但大多数DS患者都希望了解 这些技能将使他们在成年后尽可能地独立(Wehmeyer&Metzler，1995)。一 对于患有DS的年轻人来说，独立的最大障碍之一是有限的阅读技能。尽管患有DS的儿童 可以学习阅读单词，他们的进步通常停滞不前在早期的年级水平时，强调阅读 理解力增强。他们的阅读能力可能永远不会从“学会阅读”过渡到“学会阅读” (Chall，1967)。众所周知，DS与强项的认知-语言表型和 弱点。这种表现型的几个方面与阅读发展直接相关，从而与阅读 在这一人群中，发育可能是非典型的(例如，视觉记忆和词汇方面的优势；弱点 在语法中)。这项拟议的研究有两个目标-目标1是确定阅读的关键组成部分 理解DS，遵循阅读模式的简明观点。基于70名患有DS的儿童的样本 这项拟议的研究将确定阅读理解的两个主要组成部分-- 单词识别和语言理解都对阅读理解有独立的贡献。 这项拟议的研究将继续测试扩展的Simple View，该视图增加了三个认知测量，如 潜在的附加因素--言语工作记忆、注意力控制和处理速度。最后， 拟议的研究将检查单词识别的组成部分(语音解码和拼写 处理)和语言理解(词汇和句法)。目标2是检验假设 句法是DS儿童难以过渡到阅读理解的关键限制因素。为了这个， 来自目标1的70名DS儿童(年龄10-15岁)中的40名将与40名非DS智力儿童进行配对 残疾(ID，年龄10-15岁；过度抽样n=50，以达到n=40的匹配参与者)和40典型 发展儿童(6-10岁；过抽样n=50以达到n=40的匹配参与者) 辨别能力。据假设，阅读理解与语言理解和语言理解 语法，在带有DS的组中将特别低，并且在几个候选中，语法将是 小组与阅读理解之间关系的最强中介。因此，拟议的研究将 提供DS和DS中阅读理解的组成部分(和子组成部分)的描述性细目 找出在DS中最限制阅读理解发展的技能(例如，句法)。研究结果： 研究将有助于确定对DS学生进行阅读干预的目标。

Abstract Down syndrome (DS) is the leading cause of intellectual disability and, among other things, it affects cognition, learning, and adaptive skills. In spite of many significant challenges, most people with DS wish to learn the skills that will enable the greatest independence possible in their adult lives (Wehmeyer & Metzler, 1995). One of the greatest barriers to independence for youth with DS is limited reading skills. Although children with DS can learn to read words, their progress typically stalls at the early grade level when the emphasis on reading comprehension increases. Their reading skills may never transition from “learning to read to reading to learn” (Chall, 1967). It is well known that DS is associated with a cognitive-linguistic phenotype of strengths and weaknesses. Several aspects of this phenotype are directly relevant to reading development, and thus reading development might be atypical in this population (e.g., strengths in visual memory and vocabulary; weakness in syntax). The proposed study has two aims – Aim 1 is to determine the key components of reading comprehension in DS, following the Simple View of Reading model. Based on a sample of 70 children with DS ages 10-15, the proposed study will determine whether the two major components of reading comprehension – word identification and language comprehension – both contribute independently to reading comprehension. The proposed study will go on to test an Extended Simple View which adds three cognitive measures as potential additional components – verbal working memory, attentional control, and processing speed. Finally, the proposed study will examine components of word identification (phonological decoding and orthographic processing) and language comprehension (vocabulary and syntax). Aim 2 is to test the hypothesis that poor syntax is a key limiting factor in the difficult transition to reading comprehension for children with DS. For this, 40 of the 70 children with DS from Aim 1 (ages 10-15) will be matched with 40 children with non-DS intellectual disability (ID, ages 10-15; oversampling n = 50 to achieve n = 40 of matched participants) and 40 typically developing children (ages 6-10; oversampling n = 50 to achieve n = 40 of matched participants) on word identification ability. It is hypothesized that reading comprehension, along with language comprehension and syntax, will be especially low in the group with DS and that, among several candidates, syntax will be the strongest mediator of the relation between group and reading comprehension. Thus, the proposed study will provide a descriptive breakdown of component (and subcomponent) skills of reading comprehension in DS and identify the skills (e.g., syntax) that most limit the growth of reading comprehension in DS. Findings from the study will be helpful in identifying targets for reading intervention for students with DS.