Language elements that signal risk of TEA in people with T21 and possible pathways to intervention

Abstract

The primary objective of this research was to describe distinctive elements present in the language of people with T21, ASD and T21 with comorbid ASD, with the aim of helping the diagnostic process and, as secondary objectives: to understand the consequences of the diagnosis of ASD in the language of people with T21; verify if there are similarities between the language acquisition milestones of each group and identify strategies used by family members that contribute to the language development of people with T21 and co-morbid ASD. As a theoretical framework, the assumptions of the Historical-Cultural Theory (THC) and Discursive Neurolinguistics (ND) were used, understanding the development of language as the representation of the formation of one of the most important functions of cultural development, capable of accumulating the social experience of humanity. For THC, the sign mediates the man's relationship with the object and with other men, and only through the intentional action of the other, experienced through social relations, can signs be internalized and enable the development of higher psychic functions. The ND, on the other hand, contributes by pointing out the importance of looking at the specificities of the subjects and the movement of language as a process built in enunciation. The theoretical currents used converge on the importance of the medium creating strategies for subjects to develop, regardless of their specificities. As for the methodological route, we sought to carry out a descriptive study and establish relationships between the following variables: looking at the mother while being fed; imitate gestures; produce the canonical babble; produce the first words; and, from four years old, forming the first sentences and using the first person of speech to refer to herself. Thus, responses were collected regarding the process of language acquisition and development from those responsible for 79 children and young people from the three groups: T21 (34 responses), ASD (31 responses) and T21 with comorbid ASD (14 responses). Google Forms was used as a data collection instrument and those responsible answered an online questionnaire with 42 questions. The results were presented in graphs and analyzed under the theoretical bias. The data were submitted to the chi-square test (χ²) to determine the differences between the responses of individuals with T21, ASD and T21+ASD, adopting a 5% probability level. As a result, distinctive elements were identified that may differ the population of people with T21 and comorbid ASD from people who have only T21, also pointing out ways for intervention and direction of more effective strategies regarding language development.