Acceso usuarios
[1]
;
Cintia Rodríguez Garrido
[2]
;
Edgardo Miranda Zapata
[3]
;
Pedro Palacios Salas
Santiago, Chile
Madrid, España
Santiago, Chile
Using objects symbolically to represent something absent is a crucial milestone in child development, enabling new forms of communication and interaction. We conducted a longitudinal 9-month follow-up of 6 children with Down syndrome (DS) to identify the onset, characteristics, and developmental changes of the first symbolic uses (SU). We video-recorded each child at 12, 15, 18, and 21 months during interactions with their mothers and five different objects. A microgenetic analysis of the child–adult-object triad was performed, and SU frequencies were analyzed for each age group using binomial to verify the existence of statistically significant differences between frequencies in SU complexity and their initiation. We found that SUs that are closely related to conventional object uses, specifically those at the least complex level, for example when an empty spoon is used as a spoon for ‘eating’, are statistically more frequent than those at higher complexity levels, such as those involving object substitution (e.g., using a spoon as a comb). Mothers tend to initiate SUs at 12 and 15 months; however, other SUs are more frequently initiated by children at 18 and 21 months. There are marked qualitative and quantitative inter- and intra-subject differences regarding the complexity of SUs, their frequency, and the time at which they first appear. Recommendations are proposed for implementation in contexts such as early childhood education, home, and clinical practice.
