International Review of Research in Mental Retardation

Visit the link below to download the full version of this book:

https://medipdf.com/product/international-review-of-research-in-mental-retardati
on-10/

Click Download Now

Academic Press in an imprint of Elsevier
525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495, USA
84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8RR, UK

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright ß 2006, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

The appearance of the code at the bottom of the first page of a chapter in this book
indicates the Publisher’s consent that copies of the chapter may be made for
personal or internal use of specific clients. This consent is given on the condition,
however, that the copier pay the stated per copy fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc. (www.copyright.com), for copying beyond that permitted by
Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. This consent does not extend to
other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising
or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale.
Copy fees for pre-2006 chapters are as shown on the title pages. If no fee code
appears on the title page, the copy fee is the same as for current chapters.
0074-7750/2006 $35.00

Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (þ44) 1865 843830, fax: (þ44) 1865 853333,
E-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line
via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting ‘‘Support & Contact’’
then ‘‘Copyright and Permission’’ and then ‘‘Obtaining Permissions.’’

For information on all Academic Press publications

visit our Web site at www.books.elsevier.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-12-366232-3
ISBN-10: 0-12-366232-X

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

06 07 08 09 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 Contents

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Research on Language Development and Mental Retardation:

History, Theories, Findings, and Future Directions

Leonard Abbeduto, Yolanda Keller-Bell, Erica Kesin Richmond, and Melissa M. Murphy

I. Theoretical Approaches to Language Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

II. Nativist Assumptions and Research on Mental Retardation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
III. Future Directions in Research on Language Learning and Mental Retardation . . . 26
IV. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Residential Services Research in the Developmental

Disabilities Sector

Steve Holburn and John W. Jacobson

I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
II. Three Illustrative Residential Services Research Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
III. Discussion and Final Remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

v
vi contents

The Measurement of Poverty and Socioeconomic Position

in Research Involving People with Intellectual Disability
Eric Emerson, Hilary Graham, and Chris Hatton

I.Pervasive Negative Impact of Low SEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

II.SEP in the World’s Richer Highly Stratified Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
III.Low SEP Disproportionately Affects People with Intellectual Disabilities . . . . . . . . . 83
IV. SEP and the Health, Well-being, and Life Experiences of People with
Intellectual Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
V. Current Practice in Research in Intellectual Disabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
VI. Improving Practice: The Measurement of SEP in Intellectual
Disability Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
VII. Conclusions and Recommendations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

The Influence of Prenatal Stress and Adverse Birth Outcome

on Human Cognitive and Neurological Development
Laura M. Glynn and Curt A. Sandman

I. Birth Outcome and Developmental Disability and Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

II. Birth Outcome and the Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
III. Not so Very Preterm or Low Birth Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
IV. Small for Gestational Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
V. A Slow Developmental Trajectory or Persistent Differences? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
VI. Prenatal Stress and Birth Outcomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VII. Prenatal Stress and Developmental Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VIII. Prenatal Stress and the Brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
IX. Prenatal GC Therapy as a Model of Prenatal Stress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
X. Timing of Stress and Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
XI. Prenatal Stress, Growth, and the Fetal Paradigm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Fluid Cognitive Abilities Neglected Aspects of Cognition

in Research on Mental Retardation
Clancy Blair and Megan Patrick

I. Fluid Cognition and General Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

II. Dissociation of Fluid Cognition from General Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
III. Differentiating Fluid Cognition and General Intelligence: A Developmental
Neuroscience Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
IV. The Study of Fluid Cognition in Research on Mental Retardation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
V. Implications for Research in MR of the Developmental Neuroscience
Approach to Fluid Cognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
VI. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
contents vii

Dietary Supplementation with Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids:

Implications for Interventions with Persons with Mental
Retardation from Research on Infant Cognitive Development,
ADHD, and Other Developmental Disabilities
Natalie Sinn and Carlene Wilson

I. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Mental Retardation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

II. Nutrition, Diet, and Neurological Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
III. Why Are Lipids Important? The Role of HUFAs in Neurological Functioning . 164
IV. HUFA and Infant Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
V. HUFA and Cognitive Functioning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
VI. HUFA and ADHD Symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
VII. Implications for Mental Retardation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
VIII. Problems in the HUFA Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
IX. Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Screening for Autism in Infants, Children, and Adolescents

Kylie M. Gray, Bruce J. Tonge, and Avril V. Brereton

I. Diagnosis in Autism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

II. Screening for Autism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
III. Infants and Young Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
IV. Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
V. Selecting a Screening Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
VI. Conclusions and Future Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

People with Mental Retardation and Psychopathology:

Stress, Affect Regulation and Attachment: A Review

Carlo Schuengel and Cees G. C. Janssen

I. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
II. Stress and Psychopathology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
III. Affect Regulation, Stress, and Coping in People with MR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
IV. Attachment and Affect Regulation in People with MR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
V. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
viii contents

Diagnosis of Depression in People with Developmental Disabilities:

Progress and Problems

Ann R. Poindexter

I. Introduction and General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

II. Incidence and Prevalence of Depression in Persons with
Mental Retardation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
III. Diagnostic Issues in Persons with Mental Retardation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
IV. Testing Techniques and Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
V. Progress and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Contents of Previous Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
 Contributors

Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors’ contributions begin.
Leonard Abbeduto (1), Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin‐
Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705
Clancy Blair (131), Human Development and Family Studies,
Pennsylvania State University, 110 Henderson South, University
Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Avril V. Brereton (197), Monash University Centre for Developmental
Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Psychology, Psychiatry and
Psychological Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, VIC 3168,
Australia
Eric Emerson, (77), Institute for Health Research, Lancaster
University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom
Laura M. Glynn (109), Department of Psychiatry and Human
Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92868
Hilary Graham, (77), Institute for Health Research, Lancaster
University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom
Kylie M. Gray (197), Monash University Centre for Developmental
Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Psychology, Psychiatry and
Psychological Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, VIC
3168, Australia
Chris Hatton (77), Institute for Health Research, Lancaster
University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom
Steve Holburn (41), New York State Institute for Basic Research in
Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York 10314

ix
x contributors

John W. Jacobson (41), Sage Colleges Center for Applied Behavior

Analysis, Troy, New York
Cees G. C. Janssen (229), Department of Clinical Child and Family
Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Yolanda Keller‐Bell (1), Department of Communication Sciences and
Special Education, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Melissa M. Murphy (1), Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland 21211
Megan Patrick (131), Human Development and Family Studies,
Pennsylvania State University, 110 Henderson South, University
Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Ann R. Poindexter (261), Conway, Arkansas 72034
Erica Kesin Richmond (1), Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin‐
Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705
Curt A. Sandman (109), Department of Psychiatry and Human
Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92868
Carlo Schuengel (229), Department of Clinical Child and Family
Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Natalie Sinn (159), CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, University
of South Australia, South Australia, Australia
Bruce J. Tonge (197), Monash University Centre for Developmental
Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Psychology, Psychiatry and
Psychological Medicine, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, VIC
3168, Australia
Carlene Wilson (159), CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition,
University of South Australia, South Australia, Australia
 Preface

Volume 32 follows two thematic volumes, number 30 on Neurotoxicity

and number 31 on Personality and Motivation. Although Volume 32 is
eclectic, several of the chapters share common themes such as etiology of
intellectual disability and cognitive characteristics of persons with intellec-
tual disability. These themes are prominent in the field of mental retardation
and developmental disabilities more generally. In addition, two chapters, the
first and second, have special significance. The lead chapter by Leonard
Abbeduto, Yolanda Keller-Bell, Erica Richmond, and Melissa Murphy on
language development and mental retardation is the second of two being
featured as an outgrowth of the 2003 theme of the Gatlinburg Conference
on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
In that year, keynote speakers were asked to assume a historical approach to
understanding the development and trajectory of diVerent research domains
by addressing the past, present, and future of research in their respective
areas of specialization within the developmental disabilities field. The first of
these two chapters was published in Volume 29, on behavioral phenotypes
by Bob Hodapp.
Len Abbeduto and his coauthors do a masterful job in tracing approxi-
mately 40 years of research on language development in persons with
mental retardation, using a general approach as well as an etiologys-pecific
emphasis. They review theoretical positions that were dominant at diVerent
times during these 40 years, and draw conclusions about the viability of
diVerent theories given the evidence that has been amassed. They com-
municate the vibrancy of this research area, the substantial progress that has
been made, and they outline important directions for its future.
The chapter on residential services research by Steve Holburn and John
Jacobson also has a special significance. It includes almost two decades of
research that was largely unpublished because it was conducted as part of a

xi
xii preface

statewide evaluation program and was described and analyzed primarily in

technical reports. It was a major corpus of work by the authors who were
writing this chapter when John Jacobson was diagnosed with lung cancer.
He died just a few months later. John and Steve Holburn worked
frenetically and conscientiously to finish this chapter before John’s death,
and Steve made all the subsequent revisions. All of us in the field who knew
John and respected his work see this chapter as part of the invaluable legacy
that he left. Thank you, John.
The next two chapters, one by Eric Emerson, Hilary Graham, and Chris
Hatton, the other by Laura Glynn and Curt Sandman consider correlates
and possible etiology of intellectual disability. In their focus on poverty and
socioeconomic status, Emerson et al. point to both neglect and confusion
about the treatment of variables relating to these critical life circumstances.
They are critical because they are both correlates of mental retardation and
factors that influence the lives of persons with mental retardation. This
neglect is a somewhat recent phenomenon, driven by both the intense
interest in genetic causes of mental retardation as well as the political desire
to dissociate disability and class. Nonetheless, it does not help either science
or persons with mental retardation to ignore the lives of poverty that many
live, and to ignore, as well, the adverse consequences of that poverty.
Laura Glynn and Curt Sandman review the most recent research on low
birth weight and developmental disability and conclude that at least some of
the adverse consequences are permanent and not simply reflections of a
delayed developmental trajectory. They then link the low birth weight to
prenatal stress, a relatively understudied connection especially given the
influence that prenatal stress might have on the developing structure and
function of the brain. Although Glynn and Sandman do not directly address
poverty in their chapter, certainly environmental stressors associated with
very low socioeconomic status might be part of a conceptual model that
would entail the study of prenatal stress.
Clancy Blair and Megan Patrick in one chapter, and Natalie Sinn and
Carlene Wilson in another, both focus on cognitive functioning but from
quite diVerent perspectives. Blair et al. provide a convincing argument that
fluid cognition must become more central to understanding the deficits of
persons with mental retardation. Fluid cognition includes those aspects of
intelligence that involve executive function and working memory and that
are largely responsible for performance in tasks such as abstraction,
relational reasoning, and planning and problem solving. More importantly,
they then link individual diVerences in fluid cognition to diVerential experi-
ence of stress and emotion as studied within a developmental neuroscience
framework. They also propose that these foundational variables may
preface xiii

explain the adaptive behavior deficits that are a central defining feature of
mental retardation.
Sinn and Wilson are also concerned with cognitive development and with a
developmental neuroscience approach to studying it and to studying attention
deficits. In particular, they argue that problems in attention and learning,
characteristics of distractibility, lack of impulse control, and maladaptive
social behavior may result from diYculties in neurotransmitter production
and use. Although they recognize that the evidence is still quite sparse, they
suggest that dietary interventions with highly unsaturated omega-3 fatty
acids may correct the underlying neurotransmitter problems and therefore
alleviate some of the behavioral diYculties. Clearly, more well-done science
is needed in this area.
The last several decades have seen an explosion of research and writing
about autism. Between 1975 and 2005, the number of references to autism in
the PSYCINFO database has increased by approximately 1600. I recognized
this upsurge by editing a thematic volume on autism, published in 2001 as
Volume 23 of the International Review of Research in Mental Retardation.
In that volume, we addressed the issue of diagnosis. However, Kylie Gray,
Bruce Tonge and Avril Brereton bring us up-to-date on screening for
autism, reviewing many of the more recent studies including their own work
in this area. They provide very useful summaries of diVerent screening
instruments and their eYcacies, and I have no doubt that their chapter will
be frequently consulted by both novice and experienced diagnosticians and
practitioners.
Chapters ‘‘People with mental retardation and psychopathology: Stress,
aVect regulation and attachment: A review’’ and ‘‘Diagnosis of depression
in people with developmental disabilities: Progress and problems’’ both
focus on behavioral and psychological problems of persons with mental
retardation. Carlo Schuengel and Cees Janssen, in their chapter, propose
that many of the challenging behaviors that are exhibited by children and
adults with mild mental retardation are the result of failures in the coping
and adaptation to life stresses. They hypothesize that these failed adaptations
may result from cognitive deficits, aVect dysregulation, and diYculties
stemming from the absence or lack of support from attachment figures. They
review empirical evidence on attachment, especially with children with Down
syndrome, and conclude that there is some support for their hypothesis.
Ann Poindexter, in her chapter, first convinces us that the incidence and
prevalence of depression is higher in persons with mental retardation than in
intellectually typical individuals, and then describes and summarizes the
issues with regard to assessment and to treatment. She concludes that much
more research on treatment outcomes is necessary in order for psychiatric
practice to be evidence based.
xiv preface

Finally, as always, this volume would not have been possible without an
international array of individuals who were willing to lend their expertise and
review and comment on manuscripts. The following persons, listed alphabe-
tically, all contributed extensive advice and guidance that helped make the
chapters reviewed for this volume as good as they are: Arnold Birenbaum, John
Borkowski, Margaret Burchinal, Doug Detterman, Anton Dosen, Elisabeth
Dykens, Glenn Fujiura, Mike Guralnick, Linda Gottfredson, Maureen Hack,
Linda Hickson, Ann Kaiser, Connie Kasari, Craig Mason, James McCracken,
Bill MacLean, Ted Nettelbeck, Johannes Rojahn, MaryAnn Romski, Lynn
Ward, and Marilyn Yeargin-Allsopp. Thank you, all.

LARAINE MASTERS GLIDDEN

 Research on Language Development and
Mental Retardation: History, Theories,
Findings, and Future Directions*

LEONARD ABBEDUTO

WAISMAN CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN‐MADISON, MADISON, WISCONSIN

YOLANDA KELLER‐BELL

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION SCIENCES AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, ATHENS, GEORGIA

ERICA KESIN RICHMOND

WAISMAN CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN‐MADISON, MADISON, WISCONSIN

MELISSA M. MURPHY

KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

In this chapter, we briefly review some of the theoretical shifts and most
important findings to emerge in the study of language development in indivi-
duals with mental retardation since the inception of the Gatlinburg Confer-
ence on Mental Retardation Research and Theory in 1968. This period
corresponds to an especially vibrant era of research on language and mental
retardation, and one that has been shaped in profound ways by the nativist
theory espoused first by Noam Chomsky (1965) and later by Fodor (1983),
Pinker (1996), and others. Research on language development among those

*Author’s note: Preparation of this chapter was supported by NIH grants R01 HD24356 and
P30 HD03352.

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN 1 Copyright 2006, Elsevier Inc.

MENTAL RETARDATION, Vol. 32 All rights reserved.
0074-7750/06 $35.00 DOI: 10.1016/S0074-7750(06)32001-0
2 Leonard Abbeduto et al.

with mental retardation has not only been shaped by nativist theory but this
research has also yielded data that have proven important for evaluating the
merits of the theory, as in the case of research on Williams syndrome (Bellugi,
Lai, & Wang, 1997). In our review, we have by necessity been selective,
focusing largely on those concerns and findings that have been motivated
by, or are relevant to, the claims of nativist theory or the alternative theories
that have risen in prominence in recent years. The alternatives we consider
are the social‐interactionist (Bruner, 1983) and emergentist (MacWhinney,
1999) approaches, which grew out of work in typical child development and
cognitive science, respectively, and the genetic syndromes approach
(Hodapp & Dykens, 1994), which emerged from work within the field of
mental retardation. Our goal is to provide a brief history of research on
language and mental retardation, demonstrate the bidirectional relationships
between that research and the dominant theoretical approaches of our time,
and outline future directions for research.

I. THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

A. Nativist Approach
The nativist approach was first introduced in the 1960s (Chomsky, 1965).
According to the nativists, there is something ‘‘special’’ about language
that reflects the unique character of the processes by which it is learned.
Moreover, this uniqueness is thought to be biologically based, arising from
the innately given organization and structure of the human mind (Chomsky,
1988). Although there are diVerent variants of the nativist approach
(Chomsky, 1975, 1988; Fodor, 1983; Pinker, 1996), all include the same four
key claims:

1. The human brain is well designed to learn language and every child is
born with the capacity to learn a language (i.e., there is species universality).
This capacity consists of a tacit, or implicit, knowledge of the properties
common to all languages and of the constraints on the ways in which
languages can diVer (i.e., the so‐called universal grammar). This ‘‘advance’’
knowledge leads the child to generate only a limited number of tightly
constrained hypotheses about the input language rather than relying on,
for example, trial and error.
2. The capacity to learn language operates in modular fashion in that this
capacity involves mechanisms that are especially tuned to processing linguis-
tic representations and require little if any input from more general cognitive
processes or other mental functions. It is even proposed that there is mod-
ularity of one component of language from the next (e.g., syntactic rules are
HISTORY OF LANGUAGE AND MENTAL RETARDATION 3

thought to be unconstrained by the meanings represented in the semantic

component of the language).
3. The child needs to encounter only a limited number of key examples in
the input language to arrive at the necessary language‐specific categories and
rules. These key examples represent very basic ‘‘facts’’ about language and
are likely to be available in virtually all environments. Thus, normal varia-
tions in children’s environments are unlikely to have much of an impact on
language development.
4. The ‘‘goal’’ of language learning is mastery of an internalized set of
abstract, deterministic, and context‐free rules that define the elements of
language and govern their combination into higher‐order units. Although
the knowledge represented in these rules is the basis of speaking and listen-
ing, it is represented only imperfectly in such performances because of the
‘‘distorting’’ influences of various peripheral constraints such as those on
memory and attention (i.e., the rules represent competence, which is only one
of several determinants of performance). Nativists are interested largely in
competence and see performance factors as trivial.

More detailed analyses of the assumptions of the nativist approach can

be found in Abbeduto, Evans, and Dolan (2001); Abbeduto and McDuYe
(in press); Chapman et al. (1992); KarmiloV and KarmiloV‐Smith (2001);
Rondal (2003); and Rosenberg and Abbeduto (1993).
Many of the nativist claims are controversial and have prompted the
formulation of alternative theories. In addition, although the nativist
approach outlines in broad strokes the mechanisms that shape language
development, it is surprisingly devoid of details about how language devel-
opment occurs in real time (KarmiloV & KarmiloV‐Smith, 2001). In other
words, the steps by which the child moves from being a nonspeaking being
with the potential to acquire language to possessor of the end‐state grammar is
not specified by the nativist account in part because of ‘‘simplifying’’ assump-
tions that make the problem of language learning logically possible (e.g., the
assumption of simultaneous access to key exemplars in the input language and
the instantaneous acquisition of the end‐state grammar). This lack of detail
has also prompted the articulation of alternative theoretical accounts.

B. Alternatives to the Nativist Approach

1. SOCIAL‐INTERACTIONIST APPROACH
In the mid‐ to late‐1970s, researchers began to question the nativist claims
about the environment’s contributions to language learning by documenting
diVerences in the quality of talk that adults direct to children (Snow,
1977). From these beginnings, the social‐interactionist approach emerged.
4 Leonard Abbeduto et al.

This approach emphasizes that the social uses and contexts of language are
important for development and are a source of diVerence among children as
regards their trajectories and outcomes. Although not necessarily inconsistent
with the nativist claim that children are biologically prepared to learn
language, the approach is distinguished in all its variants by the claim that
environmental variations are important in language development.
Bruner (1983) was among the earliest and most influential architects of the
social‐interactionist approach. Bruner suggested that a crucial component of
the language acquisition process is the format—a patterned, routinized, and
familiar interaction that enables the child and his or her adult care provider
to communicate with each other successfully. The linguistic exchanges that
take place in the format constitute the input from which the child learns
grammar, how to refer and mean, and how to realize his or her intentions in
language. The format also provides a system that frames, or structures, the
input of language and interaction, making both more comprehensible to
the child and thereby helping him or her to learn language. Especially
important is the notion, that within the format, the care provider scaVolds
the child’s participation, helping the child to participate at a level appropri-
ate to his or her current skills, gradually decreasing the amount of scaVold-
ing as the child is capable of more independent participation. Bruner
referred to the system of formats that parents create for their children as a
Language Acquisition Support System.
Bruner illustrates these claims in a longitudinal study focused on a
mother–infant pair in the process of acquiring standard lexical labels from
the 8th to the 18th month of the infant’s life (Ninio & Bruner, 1978).
The most striking characteristic of this labeling activity was that it took
place in structured interactional sequences that had the texture of dialogue
such as book reading. During these activities, the mother and child would
frequently engage in a standard three‐step routine (the attentional vocative,
the query, and the label). For the majority of the routines, the child would
play an active role in the routine, often prompting the mother to initiate a
new turn and to engage in more labeling activity. This research demon-
strated that a crucial element in the achievement of reference by the child
is his or her mastery of the reciprocal dialogue rules and conventions that
govern the format. The child acquires these rules from the mother, who
scaVolds the dialogic exchange so that the child moves from prelinguistic
referential activity to mastery of verbal reference (Franklin & Barten, 1988).
Another pioneer of the social‐interactionist approach was Snow (1977),
who suggested that adult caregivers tailored their language to the changing
capabilities of the children with whom they interacted, with this special
register coming to be known as child‐directed language (CDL). In a now
classic study of maternal talk to infants, Snow (1977) demonstrated that