Efficacy of a reading and language intervention for children with Down Research Paper

Efficacy of a reading and language intervention for children with Down syndrome - Research Paper Example   There exist a number of publications about children with Down syndrome as illustrated in this article (Burgoyne et. al., 2012). Most researchers have found out that children with Down syndrome have a learning difficulty, but they can still read despite having varied attainment levels. Such authors include Byrne et al (2002) in their article where they did a comparative study of children with Down syndrome and their mainstream peer. Also reviewed here is a publication of Laws & Gunn, 2002, in their article where they analyzed the relationships between reading, phonological skills and language development in individuals with Down syndrome. After this five-year study, they came up to the same conclusion as Byrne et al. The article also reviews other study interventions put forth for children with Down syndrome. An example is the use of phonics for teaching and reading as elaborated by DCSF (2009), NRP (2000), and Rose (2007). It also highlights the debates that have arisen over the effectiveness of this method. From these publications, features of children with DS are also discussed. For instance, their good visual ability, their stronger ability to recognize words than decode them, as well as their weaknesses in phonological awareness is analyzed. It has also been documented that children with DS have benefited when subjected to reading instructions that compile both phonological awareness as well as reading skills. Cologon et. al. (2011), Goetz et al (2008), and Lemons and Fuchs (2010) documented this.   ... The article also reviews other study interventions put forth for children with Down syndrome. An example is the use of phonics for teaching and reading as elaborated by DCSF (2009), NRP (2000), and Rose (2007). It also highlights the debates that have arisen over the effectiveness of this method. From these publications, features of children with DS are also discussed. For instance, their good visual ability, their stronger ability to recognize words than decode them, as well as their weaknesses in phonological awareness is analyzed. It has also been documented that children with DS have benefited when subjected to reading instructions that compile both phonological awareness as well as reading skills. Cologon et. al. (2011), Goetz et al (2008), and Lemons and Fuchs (2010) documented this. However, they also highlighted that short training hours, small samples of study, and no comparison groups available that are appropriate undermine evidences proving this fact. The fact that langua ge impairment is common among children with DS provided the rationale through which the intervention was conducted. This is according to Abbeduto et. al. (2007), where the authors analyzed language development in children with DS step by step from pre linguistic period till they acquired literacy in terms of language. This article also reviews the other interventions put forth in improving learning skills in children with Down syndrome. An example is the Triangle model as documented by Seidenberg and McClelland, 1989. This triangle model was mainly for recognition of words, and enabled the children to link orthography with word meanings by making use of semantic pathway. Also elaborated are the factors that