Communication profiles of individuals with Down's syndrome, Angelman syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder.

The team compared how three groups use words to get what they want. They looked at children and adults with Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder.

They scored each person on three verbal skills: asking for items (mands), naming items (tacts), and repeating what they hear (echoics).

Down syndrome learners named and echoed better than they asked. Angelman learners almost never echoed. All three groups asked and named at about the same level.

No big gaps showed up between the syndromes on mands or tacts. The stand-out clue was the missing echoics in Angelman syndrome.

Godfrey et al. (2019) later showed that kids with both Down syndrome and autism can look different from either condition alone. Their work extends this 2002 snapshot by adding autism-symptom numbers.

Greer et al. (2013) also studied Angelman syndrome and found high autism-screen scores. This backs up the echoic gap seen here, but adds that social joy can still be strong in AS.

Scior et al. (2023) interviewed caregivers and described rich, multi-modal communication in Angelman syndrome. Their qualitative detail fills in why echoics are weak: many use signs, gestures, or devices instead of spoken repeats.

Use these quick profiles to pick first communication goals. If you see Angelman syndrome, skip pure echoic drills and start with signs or AAC. If you see Down syndrome, build asking skills first because naming is already ahead. The papers that followed keep confirming these patterns, so you can trust the shortcut.

Seventy-seven individuals with Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome, or pervasive developmental disorder were assessed and contrasted using a verbal-operant framework of mands, tacts, and echoics.

Within the Down syndrome group, tacting and echoing were stronger than manding. The standout between-group finding was an absence of echoic behavior in the Angelman syndrome group.

Between groups, there were no differences in the use of mands or tacts, and Down syndrome and PDD groups did not differ on echoic functioning.

These profiles illustrate behavioral phenotypes, patterns of verbal behavior that tend to travel with specific syndromes and can inform assessment and target selection.

For a client with Angelman syndrome, expect near-absent echoics and plan communication programming that does not depend on echoic prompting or vocal imitation.

Framing communication in terms of distinct verbal operants, rather than a single language score, lets you tailor targets to each learner's strengths.