Spoken language in 330 children with Down syndrome (ages 1-5) and 336 normally developing children (ages 1,2) was compared. Growth trends, individual variation, sex differences, and performance on vocabulary, pragmatic, and grammar scales as well as maximum length of utterance were explored. Three- and four-year-old Down syndrome children performed comparably to the normative group. Results supported early intervention. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)