Abstract
Ten mentally retarded adults with Down's Syndrome were assigned to American Indian Gestural Code (Amer-Ind) and American Sign Language (ASL) teaching groups to compare sign comprehension, imitation, and retrieval learning in relation to system characteristics (iconicity, motoric complexity of signs) and subject specific factors (language and motoric ability). Twenty lexical items, significantly different in iconicity and motor difficulty for the two gestural systems, were taught to the subjects during 20 thirty-minute sessions. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in individual subject performance at five session measurement intervals but no significant differences between the two groups. Subject factors rather than differences in sign system characteristics appeared to be the best predictors of language/gestural code learning for the mentally retarded adults.
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Marquardt, T.P., Sanchez, S. & Muñoz, M.L. Gestural Communication Learning in Mentally Retarded Adults with Down's Syndrome. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities 11, 221–236 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021896515483
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021896515483