The role of linguistic context in deriving word meanings in individuals with Down Syndrome

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 605-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Roch ◽  
Elena Florit ◽  
Chiara Levorato
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Word Meanings

Idiom understanding in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: The role of text comprehension skills

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAJA ROCH ◽  
MARIA CHIARA LEVORATO
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Comprehension Skills ◽  
Elaboration Model

ABSTRACTIn the current study, idiom understanding was analyzed in relation to the ability to process the linguistic context in which the idiom is embedded with the hypothesis that there is a strong relationship between text and idiom comprehension. This hypothesis was derived from the global elaboration model. Nonfamiliar idioms, both transparent and opaque, were presented in the context of a story to 20 participants with Down syndrome aged between 9 years, 9 months (9;9) and 18;1 and to 20 first-grade typically developing children aged between 6;3 and 7;3 who had the same level of text comprehension. Results show that for both groups differences in idiom understanding can be accounted for by differences in text comprehension: the same relationship holds between idiom and text comprehension in Down syndrome and in typical development and is not influenced by idiom type (semantic analyzability) or by sentence comprehension. The results provide support to the global elaboration model and are discussed in light of it.

scholarly journals Characterization of Caenorhabditis elegans Homologs of the Down Syndrome Candidate Gene DYRK1A

Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B Raich ◽  
Celine Moorman ◽  
Clay O Lacefield ◽  
Jonah Lehrer ◽  
Dusan Bartsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Trisomy 21 ◽  
Gene Dosage ◽  
Inducible Promoters ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Dual Specificity ◽  
Specificity Protein

Abstract The pathology of trisomy 21/Down syndrome includes cognitive and memory deficits. Increased expression of the dual-specificity protein kinase DYRK1A kinase (DYRK1A) appears to play a significant role in the neuropathology of Down syndrome. To shed light on the cellular role of DYRK1A and related genes we identified three DYRK/minibrain-like genes in the genome sequence of Caenorhabditis elegans, termed mbk-1, mbk-2, and hpk-1. We found these genes to be widely expressed and to localize to distinct subcellular compartments. We isolated deletion alleles in all three genes and show that loss of mbk-1, the gene most closely related to DYRK1A, causes no obvious defects, while another gene, mbk-2, is essential for viability. The overexpression of DYRK1A in Down syndrome led us to examine the effects of overexpression of its C. elegans ortholog mbk-1. We found that animals containing additional copies of the mbk-1 gene display behavioral defects in chemotaxis toward volatile chemoattractants and that the extent of these defects correlates with mbk-1 gene dosage. Using tissue-specific and inducible promoters, we show that additional copies of mbk-1 can impair olfaction cell-autonomously in mature, fully differentiated neurons and that this impairment is reversible. Our results suggest that increased gene dosage of human DYRK1A in trisomy 21 may disrupt the function of fully differentiated neurons and that this disruption is reversible.

Neurobiological Elements of Cognitive Dysfunction in Down Syndrome: Exploring the Role of APP

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 403-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Millan Sanchez ◽  
Sietske N. Heyn ◽  
Devsmita Das ◽  
Sarah Moghadam ◽  
Kara J. Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cognitive Dysfunction

scholarly journals ICTs and Music in Generic Learning Disabilities

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (04) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paraskevi Theodorou ◽  
Athanasios Drigas
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Disruptive Behavior ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Digital Music ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Role Of Information

The purpose of this paper is to review the most representative studies of the last decade (2006-2015) which deal with the combination of technology and music and concern individuals with Generic learning disabilities. Particularly, the areas of needs in this paper are divided to the following categories: Depression/ disruptive behavior, Down syndrome, Intellectual disa¬bilities, Cerebral palsy and Severe/Profound disa-bilities. It is also underlined the important role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital music tools in promoting musical participation and as-sisting students with the pre-referred disa-bilities.

scholarly journals Polymorphisms inHSD17B1: Early Onset and Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Women with Down Syndrome

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph H. Lee ◽  
Susan Gurney ◽  
Deborah Pang ◽  
Alexis Temkin ◽  
Naeun Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Age At Onset ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Risk Alleles ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Estrogen Activity ◽  
Intron 4

Background/Aims. Genetic variants that affect estrogen activity may influence the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In women with Down syndrome, we examined the relation of polymorphisms in hydroxysteroid-17beta-dehydrogenase (HSD17B1) to age at onset and risk of AD.HSD17B1encodes the enzyme 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD1), which catalyzes the conversion of estrone to estradiol.Methods. Two hundred and thirty-eight women with DS, nondemented at baseline, 31–78 years of age, were followed at 14–18-month intervals for 4.5 years. Women were genotyped for 5 haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in theHSD17B1gene region, and their association with incident AD was examined.Results. Age at onset was earlier, and risk of AD was elevated from two- to threefold among women homozygous for the minor allele at 3 SNPs in intron 4 (rs676387), exon 6 (rs605059), and exon 4 inCOASY(rs598126). Carriers of the haplotype TCC, based on the risk alleles for these three SNPs, had an almost twofold increased risk of developing AD (hazard ratio = 1.8, 95% CI, 1.1–3.1).Conclusion. These findings support experimental and clinical studies of the neuroprotective role of estrogen.

scholarly journals The Role of Sensorial Integration in Motor Development in Children with Down Syndrome

GYMNASIUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol XIX (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Mihaela Anghel
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Syndrome Child

One of the reasons behind the choice of the topic is that this problem of sensory-motor development in children with physical and mental deficiencies, especially in children with Down syndrome, is not sufficiently known and studied, sensory-motor development representing an important factor in their physical and social development. The reason I chose this theme and the theoretical basis from which I started was to improve the psychomotor behaviors through sensory stimulation. The assumptions we went into the research were: 1. If we use different sensory combination strategies, the Down Syndrome will be able to compensate for the psycho-motor disorders; 2. If we apply sensory stimuli to the Down Syndrome child, then there will be ameliorations of the underlying motor conduction. The research presents a case study of a 6 year and six mouth old child diagnosed with Down syndrome. The location of the study was carried out at the "Delfinul" day center of the Betania Association.

scholarly journals The role of social workers for children with down syndrome and their families.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renawati Renawati ◽  
Maulana Irfan Maulana ◽  
Meilanny Budiarty Meilanny ◽  
Budhi Wibhawa Budhi ◽  
Nurlina Apsari Nurlina
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome

scholarly journals 3-4-year-old children rapidly adapt their predictions and use them to learn novel word meanings

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Havron ◽  
Alex de Carvalho ◽  
Anne-Caroline Fievet ◽  
Anne CHRISTOPHE
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Recent Information ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Syntactic Context ◽  
Novel Words

Adults create and update predictions about what speakers will say next. The current study asks whether prediction can drive language acquisition, by testing whether 3-4-year-old children (n=45) adapt to recent information when learning novel words. The study used a syntactic context which can precede both nouns and verbs to manipulate children’s predictions about what syntactic category will follow. Children for whom the syntactic context predicted verbs were more likely to infer that a novel word appearing in this context referred to an action, than children for whom it predicted nouns. This suggests that children make rapid changes to their predictions, and use this information to learn novel information, supporting the role of prediction in language acquisition.

Using Speakers' Referential Intentions to Model Early Cross-Situational Word Learning

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 578-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Frank ◽  
Noah D. Goodman ◽  
Joshua B. Tenenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Mutual Exclusivity ◽  
Object Individuation ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Inference Problems ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Situational Learning

Word learning is a “chicken and egg” problem. If a child could understand speakers' utterances, it would be easy to learn the meanings of individual words, and once a child knows what many words mean, it is easy to infer speakers' intended meanings. To the beginning learner, however, both individual word meanings and speakers' intentions are unknown. We describe a computational model of word learning that solves these two inference problems in parallel, rather than relying exclusively on either the inferred meanings of utterances or cross-situational word-meaning associations. We tested our model using annotated corpus data and found that it inferred pairings between words and object concepts with higher precision than comparison models. Moreover, as the result of making probabilistic inferences about speakers' intentions, our model explains a variety of behavioral phenomena described in the word-learning literature. These phenomena include mutual exclusivity, one-trial learning, cross-situational learning, the role of words in object individuation, and the use of inferred intentions to disambiguate reference.

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