Grammatical skills of Dutch children with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome in comparison with children with Developmental Language Disorder: Evidence from spontaneous language and standardized assessment

Background Virtually all children with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS) experience language difficulties, next to other physical and psychological problems. However, the grammatical skills of 22q11DS are relatively unexplored, particularly in naturalistic settings. The present research filled this gap, including two studies different age groups which standardized assessment was complemented spontaneous analysis. In both studies, we compared Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), for whom origin difficulties is unknown. Methods first study included 187 preschool ( n = 44 22q11DS, 65 DLD, 78 typically developing; TD). Standardized consisted grammar vocabulary measures expressive receptive modality. Spontaneous during a play session analyzed matched subsample 27 per group). second 29 school-aged 14 15 DLD). We administered tests grammar, elicited conversation narrative task. indexed accuracy complexity. Results analysis did not reveal significant differences between peers DLD. showed that these produced less complex more erroneous utterances than TD children, who also outperformed on measures, largest grammar. scored lower but no emerged tests. Discussion Expressive weak Skills domain differ groups, despite clear etiology cognitive capacities. This found irrespective method, highlights view there multiple routes (impaired) development. Future should investigate if interventions targeting DLD benefit 22q11DS. Moreover, our findings indicate deficits exceed those observed warrant special attention.