The Effect of Prompts on the Shared Reading Interactions of Parents and Children with Down Syndrome

ABSTRACT

This study examined the effect of prompts on the shared reading interactions of parents and young children with Down syndrome. Eight parents and their children with Down syndrome (aged 4 years, 7 months to 6 years, 9 months) were recorded reading two books together, one of which included 12 question prompts which parents were instructed to ask their child during reading. Though there was considerable variability, parents and children engaged in significantly more extra-textual talk when reading books with embedded prompts than during typical reading. In addition, children showed greater participation and produced significantly more words and a greater range of words, when reading books with embedded prompts. Prompts had no effect on the complexity of child language. Embedded prompts significantly enhanced the interactions that occurred between parents and young children with Down syndrome during shared book reading and created more opportunities for parents to support their child’s language development. Though further studies are needed, the findings reported here have potentially important implications for the development of shared reading interventions to support language development in young children with Down syndrome.

KEYWORDS:

• Down syndrome
• language development
• parent–child interactions
• shared reading

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.