# SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 1994 · $87,383

## Abstract

The critical aim of this research is to identify correlates and
precursors of social competence in children with Down syndrome.  The wide
variation in the adaptation of adults with Down syndrome is mainly a
function of their social and communicative skills.  However, the
development of social competence in individuals with Down syndrome has
been investigated very incompletely.

In our previous research, we have found that infants with Down syndrome
prefer social interaction to object exploration and participate more in
social exchanges than normal infants of the same developmental level.
While this focus on social interaction has little contemporaneous
relation with language skills, the social experience provided may
facilitate the acquisition of childhood social skills.  On the other
hand, infants with Down syndrome are less engaged with toys than
controls, and this lack of involvement is found most often in those
infants who have the poorest language skills.  Greater task engagement
and nonverbal requesting behavior may facilitate later social competence
by enhancing language skills.  The specification of the predictive links
between infant social and task engagement with childhood language and
social competence is important for determining which forms of engagement
should be encouraged or discouraged in intervention with infants.

Four components of childhood social competence will be investigated:
interpersonal skills during peer interaction, adaptive behaviors,
emotional responsiveness, and emotional understanding.  The concurrent
associations within these domains and the associations between these
competencies and childhood social participation, task engagement, and
language abilities will be determined.  this research will amplify the
very limited information now available about the social competence of
children with Down syndrome and will identify early and concurrent
abilities and proclivities that should be encouraged for individual
children to be optimally effective in social situations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197503
- **Project number:** 5R01HD017662-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **SAM.gov UEI:** RN64EPNH8JC6
- **Principal Investigator:** MARIAN D SIGMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $87,383
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1983-03-01 → 1998-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197503

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197503, SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN (5R01HD017662-09). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197503. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*