Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and Lexical Gain in Children With Down Syndrome

Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Lexical Gain in Children With Down Syndrome: Pilot Study

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00689988

Enrollment

Registered

2008-06-04

Start date

2005-07-31

Completion date

2008-06-30

Last updated

2008-06-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Down Syndrome

Keywords

Down syndrome, communication AIDS for disabled, language development disorders, vocabulary, gestures, language tests, child

Brief summary

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have language development particularities that have negative effects in the communication capacity. By this way, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is indicated to this population. The aim of this study was to verify the AAC impact in the lexical gain of children with DS.

Detailed description

Five children with DS, with the same cognitive level, participated in this study. Longitudinal follow-up of twelve months of speech-language therapy with AAC use was undertaken. A lexical evaluation was done at the beginning and the end of this follow-up. Correct responses in the lexical evaluation were increased, but not necessarily in the spoken modality. The comparisons showed significant results in use of substitutions processes, and to no-answers.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALspeech-language therapy with AAC intervention

speech-language intervention in weekly 40-minutes sessions, without the presence of parents or caregivers, and 5 to 10-minutes to parents training and orientation

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

5 Years to 11 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* genetic diagnosis of Down syndrome * be at the preoperational period * good health conditions * expressive language impairment (communication by vocal and gestures, predominantly)

Exclusion criteria

* presence of major malformations * presence of another genetic syndrome * severe neonatal asphyxia, hearing impairment or visual

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Performance on a initial and final lexical assessments, after 12 months of speech-language therapy	12 months

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Performance on longitudinal follow-up of twelve months of speech-language therapy with AAC use	12 months

Countries

Brazil

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026