Semantic Intentions and Relations in Children with Intellectual Disability (ID) in the Mental Age Range of 4 to 7 Years

Abstract

Children with intellectual disability show a wide range of speech and language problems. The research on language acquisition in India has been carried out mostly through dissertations (Karanth, 1993). Krupa, (2008) showed that cognitive development influences language development to a greater extent. However, cognitive development and language development do not have linear relationship. The present  paper study attempts to modify the method of analyzing semantic data, by incorporating the frequency rather than the presence of the use of each semantic element in the spontaneous language samples of ID children with mental age of 4 to 7 years and 4 to 7 year old normal children. Comparison between the two groups would give us valuable information to develop better methods of assessment as well as intervention. Hence this study in general goes a step further in measuring the frequency of responses of semantic intentions and semantic relations of similar population between the ages of 4-7 years. The present study could not include video recording for data collection. Future study will need to include video recording in individual and group settings to elicit wider semantic data.

Key words: Intellectual Disability, Semantic Intentions, Semantic Relations