Phonological awareness training in Down Syndrome

Abstract: The present study aimed at evaluating and training phonological awareness in Down syndrome. The 24 participants, divided in three groups, were assessed in their metaphonological abilities and then the experimental groups (one of them typically developing and the other one with Down syndrome) went through a six-week program to train such abilities. As a result, the two experimental groups were significantly better in the post-test, due to the training program efficacy, and presented a better performance than the control group in the post-test. Furthermore, the Down syndrome group, after training, had an even better improvement than the typically developing group, probably because the training sections delivered for them were in an individual basis. We highlight the fact that all of the training activities were especially designed taking into account the difficulties related to memory, attention and expressive language, usually linked to this syndrome. Some points are made regarding methodological and teaching issues in assessing atypical populations.