Language and communication in individuals with Down syndrome - which future does the research predict?

Children with Down syndrome are at risk of communication and language disorders and during the last years there has been a huge debate about the potential of these children. We therefore arranged the two day conference Communication in individuals with Down syndrome - which future does the research predict? At least a mean of 215 people take part each day either from The National Library or through steaming. We had three main aim for the conference; 1) To disseminate and share the most recent research within the field, 2) To focus the methodological quality of the research within the field in order to increase the quality of future research and bring the research forward, and 3) To meet with international researchers for a very first noncommittal discussion, in order to map out the potential for possible further collaboration in a EU-project/NFR-project. Based on the accepted abstracts one section in the program was devoted to reading development and reading instruction. Another focused communication and language development and intervention. Finally, also results from recent or ongoing treatment of motor speech disorders were presented. Focus were given to the methodological quality in the studies and especially implementation quality in intervention studies were highlighted, In addition to the research talks, the conference program also included a picture book exhibition with 12 picture books especially designed for children with Down syndrome as well as sharing of educational experiences in a 90 minutes from practice session Contacts across borders were linked during the conference days to ensure a stronger international research community within this field in the future and new research projects are already under development. We are grateful to all speakers, participants and live streamers, NNDS, and to the DSL+-team for their positive contributions and for making this conference successful. A great thank to the National Library for hosting the conference, for coffee, tea and a lovely lunch, as well as for technical support and live streaming the talks. Especially thanks to Johanne Ostad who led us through the program. Many thanks also to the municipality of Oslo that hosted the lovely conference reception and finally, we want to thank the research council of Norway for granting the conference.

I samarbeid med aktuelt fagmiljø tilknyttet Institutt for psykologi ved Universitetet i Oslo (UIO) samt Nasjonal bibliokteket og Norsk Nettverk for Down syndrom vil vi (fra Institut for spesialpedagogikk ved UIO sette søkelys på framtidsmuligheter for personer med Down syndrom. Vi ønsker å løfte fram den nyeste nasjonale og internasjonale forskningen med fokus på kommunikasjon og språk. I tillegg til foredrag i plenum vil vi vie en del av konferansens to dager til paper- og posterpresentasjoner. Målgruppen er forskere fra nasjonale og internasjonale universiteter og høgskoler, forskningsstiftelser og andre kompetansemiljøer som arbeider med forskning på Down syndrom. En annen målgruppe er representanter fra brukerorganisasjoner regionalt samt politikere og andre som jobber med helse- og sosialpolitikk eller skole-, oppvekst- og utdanningsspørsmål. Vi venter ca 80-100 deltakere.