Abstract
In the past 20 some years, sign language which was originally developed for the deaf, has recently been used to teach the speech and language handicapped. Most of the reports are of cases signs are taught as one of the alternative modalities subsidizing expressive ability.
Here, however, Makaton sign language is used as a means of visual stimulus during speech and language group therapy for Down's syndrome children during the period of meaningful speech emergence. This study observed whether signs and visual stimuli can be associated with the developmental process of children's “symbolic functioning” in play, “manipulation functioning” of fine motor mobility and “attention span”.
In conclusion, after 36 sessions of training, the Makaton trained group showed a developmental pattern nearly identical to the control normal children's group in all three areas mentioned above, wherereas the Down's group without sign language training remained unchanged.
These results indicate that using visual cues during speech and language therapy is beneficial for stimulating the fundamental cognitive ability necessary for language development of young Down's syndrome children.
