An investigation of the social skills functioning in Maltese children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

This qualitative research study endeavours to explore the social skills functioning of five seven-year-old Maltese children with Down Syndrome (DS). The purpose of this study is to identify if there is a consistent pattern of strengths and weaknesses in relation to the social skills development of children with DS. The target population consisted of seven Maltese children with DS aged between five-seven years, their mothers, and their Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs). The researcher used a self-administered questionnaire as the research data collection instrument and distributed the questionnaire to the children’s mothers and to the SLPs, whilst also collecting data by means of observation meetings to directly observe the children. The questionnaires were used for the purpose of helping the participants provide reflections with regards to the children’s social skills functioning and the observation meetings were held to see the application of the social skills. The process of thematic analysis was applied to analyse the data collected. A set of Subthemes and Major Themes were then identified from the findings, which were used to answer the research questions being investigated. The results showed that children with DS present with specific behaviours which are characteristic to their phenotype, whilst exhibiting a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in relation to their social skills development which aim to inform programmes of intervention.