Advancing imitation and requesting skills in toddlers with Down syndrome.
Toddlers with Down syndrome can learn to speak faster when you teach imitation first and use social rewards.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four toddlers with Down syndrome, months, joined the study.
Each child had fewer than 10 spoken words and no imitation skills.
Therapists ran 20-minute sessions three times a week in a clinic playroom.
They first taught the kids to imitate simple sounds and words.
Next they taught the kids to ask for toys using those new words.
Praise, tickles, and toy access were the only rewards used.
What they found
Three of the four toddlers learned to copy new words.
All four learned to ask for toys with words.
Most kids used the new words with different toys and different adults.
Kids also started saying word-like sounds they had never been taught.
Skills stayed strong one month after therapy ended.
How this fits with other research
Eisenhower et al. (2006) showed a young learners with Down syndrome plus autism needed withholding rewards until he spoke.
The current study shows younger kids with Down syndrome only need social rewards like praise and tickles.
Anonymous (2021) had French parents deliver similar therapy at home and got the same language gains.
Gwynette et al. (2020) used extra facts during listener tasks to spark new words.
The current study shows you can spark new words just by teaching imitation first, no extra facts needed.
Why it matters
You can start verbal behavior therapy with toddlers who have Down syndrome much earlier than once thought.
Use short, fun imitation games first.
Then quickly move to having them ask for their favorite toys.
Skip food rewards—smiles, hugs, and toy access work fine.
Try this sequence in your next early-intervention case.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Drawing upon information about the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype and empirically based intervention strategies, we examined intervention addressing early communication impairments in young children with Down syndrome. Intervention involved multiple opportunities, shaping, prompting, and reinforcement to address both verbal imitation and requesting. Intervention also incorporated the relative strengths in social development characteristic of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype by focusing on a more social request prior to addressing the more impaired instrumental request, as well as incorporating social consequences. Three of the four toddlers with Down syndrome were taught verbal imitation skills, two of whom generalized to novel sounds. All four toddlers with Down syndrome acquired requesting skills in the form of gaze shifting and vocalizing; three were also taught verbal approximations of requesting words (e.g., "mm" for "more") using imitative prompts. These results contribute to the small, but growing, literature demonstrating behavior analytic interventions informed by an understanding of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.018