Impact of Down Syndrome diagnosis on mothers and its repercussions on the language development on children

Abstract

Introduction: In speech therapy attendance, the clinical effects associated to the impact of Down Syndrome (DS) diagnosis on mothers, results from questions about its possible effects on the acquisition and development of language on children. Thus, it is important to approach de language development of children with DS articulated with the impact of diagnosis on maternal expectations and behavior. Aim: To investigate, maternal impact of DS diagnosis and its repercussions on children’s language development. Method: quantitative study: 25 children with DS between 1.0 and 5.0 years of age and theirs mothers participated. Semi-structured interviews were realized with the mothers, and the children were submitted to the application of the Behavioral Observation Protocol (PROC), in specifi c items: “Communication Skills” and “Verbal Comprehension”. The data were registered and submitted to statistical treatment. Results: In this population, there is a great tendency of mothers suffering negative impact to the diagnosis of DS for their children (88%). Regarding language development, all mothers reported initial expectations of delay in language acquisition and/or lack of speech. In totality, 12 (52.1%) changed these expectations throughout the therapeutic process, recognizing that children could develop better than fi rst imagined, and 11 (47.9%) did not consider this possibility, a small difference that sets statistical difference between the two groups. There was a positive correlation between the total score obtained in PROC and age of children (p = 0.002), although there is a difference of scores between subjects of each age set by the instrument. Conclusion: The quantitative results revealed that an association exists between the nature of impact, the maternal expectations regarding the development of oral language of children, and the performance of these children on this aspect. But, it is noteworthy that the speech therapy processes developed with these children indicate the need for a qualitative analysis focused on the singularities of each one of them, by means of studies of emblematic clinical case.