Speech, Literacy, Numeracy, and Communication Development in an 11-Year-Old Girl with Down syndrome: A Case Report of an Evidence-Based Home Intervention

Hammed Gbenga Adewale

doi:10.63081/uejtl.v3i2.155

Authors

Hammed Gbenga Adewale University of Lagos https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0712-9451

Down syndrome, Speech therapy, Literacy, Numeracy, Scaffolding, Neurological Impress Method, Phonological Instruction

Abstract

This Case Study report presents the developmental progress of an 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome (DS) within the context of a structured home-based intervention implemented three times weekly over three and a half years. Diagnosed prenatally at the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, the child initially experienced delayed developmental milestones and academic stagnation due to insufficient support in mainstream schooling, illustrating the educational challenges faced by learners with DS in under-resourced settings. Following her transition to a special school and commencement of individualised therapy, she achieved mastery of 200 high-frequency sight words, read and comprehended over twenty simple storybooks, accurately wrote numbers from 1 to 1000 in figures and from 1 to 100 in words, and mastered multiplication tables for two and three with minimal assistance. Her conversational skills improved considerably, although she continues to experience difficulty producing the /f/, /sh/ and /V/ phonemes, highlighting ongoing speech therapy needs. The intervention combined evidence-based strategies, including scaffolding, the Neurological Impress Method, phonological training, rote learning, and concrete representational activities delivered within a structured, multisensory framework and reinforced by active parental involvement. This report exemplifies a single-subject educational and clinical case study, demonstrating how targeted, evidence-based interventions can effectively foster literacy, numeracy, and communication in children with DS, while underscoring the importance of early diagnosis, family engagement, and appropriately tailored educational placement.

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