Input bimodale: gesti e parole nell'interazione madre-bambino con sindrome di down e con sviluppo tipico

This study analyzes gesture and speech in mother-child interaction with Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD). Participants were ten mother-child dyads, 5 with SD and 5 with TD. The two groups of children were matched on the basis of language age (18 months). Respect to children, none difference emerged between the two groups about gestures and speech production. Relative to input, mothers of children with SD produced significantly fewer utterances overall, but the distribution of utterance types (speech only, gesture only, mixed) did not differ between the two groups. Moreover, mother of children with SD used proportionately more deictic gestures. Correlation between input and children’s communicative abilities showed a different pattern: a positive correlation between maternal communication and speech production of children with TD, and a positive correlation between maternal communication and gesture production of children with SD. Results are discussed in terms of maternal responsivity in relation to cognitive and linguistic abilities of children