Learning to Understand That Others Have Preferences : An Intervention Program for a Child with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Examined whether a child with Down syndrome taught with a joint action routine could learn to understand others' preferences. S was a 7-yr-old girl with Down syndrome (IQ 55.6) in Japan. S was prompted by an experimenter to ask S's mother and an assistant teacher about their preferences regarding the materials that S would use to make a craft item for them. In later trials, the S was prompted by the experimenter to wonder which materials others would prefer. The results show: (1) that in the first part of the Exp, the S chose and gave others the materials she preferred, without asking them their preference; (2) that in the final part of the Exp, the S spontaneously started asking others their preference, such as, "Which color paper do you like - red or blue?" The results show the possibility that appropriate context and procedure can be used to teach an understanding of others' preferences, a skill that is considered to be basic for communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)