It is well known that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) or fragile X syndrome (FXS) demonstrate\nexpressive language difficulties beginning early in childhood. It is less clear, however, whether expressive language\nskills change during the adolescent period in these individuals, and if any of these changes are syndrome specific.\nStudying this, as well as the role of maternal and family-related factors in expressive language development, may\nprovide the foundation for efficacious interventions for adolescents with DS or FXS.\nMethods: In this study, we examined expressive language trajectories, assessed through conversation and\nnarration, in 57 adolescent males with intellectual disability (ID) (20 DS and 37 FXS) in relation to the diagnostic\ngroup (DS vs. FXS) and family-related factors (maternal IQ, maternal psychological distress, closeness in the motherâ??\nchild relationship, family income, and maternal and paternal education) after adjusting for chronological age (CA)\nand nonverbal cognition.\nResults: Changes over repeated annual assessments for males with DS or FXS were observed only during\nconversation, such as an increase in talkativeness, but a decrease in syntax complexity and lexical diversity. We\nfound a diagnosis-related effect in the change over time in conversational talkativeness favoring those with FXS.\nFinally, a closer motherâ??child relationship predicted less decrease over time in lexical diversity during conversation,\nand participants of mothers who graduated college showed a greater increase in conversational talkativeness over\ntime compared to those of mothers with a high school education.\nConclusions: Our results suggest that, during the adolescent period for males with DS or FXS, there is an increase\nin the amount of talk produced in conversational contexts, but also a decrease in the quality of the language\nproduced. In addition, our results indicate syndrome-specificity for aspects of expressive language development\nand reinforce the protective role of family-related factors.
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