This paper presents a comparison of a mother's language to her Down syndrome child and his normally developing twin, age 2 years, 9 months old. When interacting with the Down syndrome twin, the mother changed her language in the following ways: (1) shorter MLU, (2) greater TTR, (3) more confirmations, (4) more verbal directives, (5) fewer leading wh; yes-no, and true questions, and (6) more directive questions. The differences in the mother's language are discussed in terms of their appropriateness for the delayed child's developmental level.
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