Developmental Attainment of Infants and Young Children with Down Syndrome

INFANTS and young children with Down syndrome who were living at home and attending exemplary early intervention programs were assessed by trained examiners in the five domains of the Battelle Developmental Inventory. Data was compared to the 50th percentile attainment and found that infants and young children with Down syndrome are more similar to other children in Personal Social and Adaptive Domains and less similar in Communication and Cognitive Domains. These differences begin to show more dramatically as the child reaches the age of 36 months. The older the child the greater the measured differences. Documenting and understanding this uneven developmental path is significant in program planning.     

Spontaneous Leg Movements of Infants with Down Syndrome and Nondisabled Infants

Infants with Down syndrome (DS) represent a population in which new behaviors are acquired significantly more slowly than in nondisabled infants. We propose that infants' spontaneous movements hold a key to understanding the process of development—of integrating intrinsic dynamics and function. In this investigation, we compared the spontaneous leg movements of 10 infants with DS and 2 groups of nondisabled (ND) infants matched for chronological age and motor age. In contrast to common perceptions, we did not observe a significant difference in the frequency of movements between infants with DS and ND infants. But, infants with DS demonstrated significantly fewer of the most complex patterned leg movements, that is, kicking patterns. Further, the frequency with which both DS and ND infants kicked was significantly correlated with the age at which they began to walk. Biomechanical variables were identified, as well, that related to their emergent movement patterns. These data are consistent with Edelman's proposal that spontaneous movements that occur repeatedly in regions of the organism's functional work space facilitate the development of stable behavioral patterns and emphasize the role of the interaction of multiple subsystems in the emergence of new behaviors.     

Developmental Dyscalculia and Down Syndrome: Indicative Evidence

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the hypothesis that developmental dyscalculia is part of the behavioural phenotype of Down syndrome. One hundred and fifty-one individuals with Down syndrome across three age groups contributed data. These age groups were: 6–8 years (n = 41); 13–15 years (n = 70); and 20–22 years (n = 40). Data were collected using the Stanford-Binet (Fourth Edition) and age equivalent scores on the Pattern Analysis and Quantitative subscales were used in the analyses. A repeated measure ANOVA showed a significant difference between performances on the two subtests with an interaction with age group. While performance on Pattern Analysis was better than on Quantitative for all groups the difference was most marked for the oldest group. Approximately 66% of the participants had a higher age equivalent score on the Pattern Analysis subscale than on the Quantitative subscale. It appears to be plausible that developmental dyscalculia contributes to the behavioural phenotype of Down syndrome and further investigation of this proposition is warranted.     

少数民族学生在大学物理学习中自主能动性的调动研究

大学物理是高等院校理工类学生的一门必修基础课,对于培养学生的逻辑能力和基本技能具有重要的作用。少数民族大学生是大学中的一个特殊群体,本文就少数民族学生在大学物理学习过程中存在的问题进行了探讨,总结出更有利于提高少数民族学生学习兴趣,强化学习效果有针对性的教学方法。     

A Study of Functional Literacy Skills in Young Adults with Down Syndrome

This paper presents data from a study of young adults with Down syndrome who were born either just before, or during the period when radical changes to special education services for people with intellectual disabilities were introduced. The specific aim of the study was to examine the development of language and literacy skills in a group of young adults with Down syndrome, some of whom had been educated at a time when there was an increase in expectations for achievement and opportunity to learn. Results showed that all but one of the young adults had learned to read, though for some, these skills were limited. In general, there was evidence of a positive relationship between age (for those born after 1970), attendance at an integrated school situation, and the achievement of more advanced reading and language skills. It was also evident that learning to read provides both a functional daily living skill and a satisfying recreational activity for young adults with Down syndrome.     

一例唐氏综合症儿童语言能力的个案研究

通过对一例14岁唐氏综合症儿童的汉语词类、句长、句法结构等方面在校的自发性语言的研究,结果发现1.个案使用的实词数大于虚词数;2.个案语言中7种基本的句子结构均已出现;3.个案已经出现结构复杂、逻辑性强的单句,并开始有意识地运用偏正关系的复句;4.在运用基本汉语语法的能力方面,个案语言发展水平大致相当于正常儿童3～6岁水平。     

Developmental Outcome of Minority Infants: A Process-oriented Look into Our Beginnings

This article reviews the literature on the development of children of minority status from birth to 3 years of age (infants). 5 major sources of influence on the developmental outcome of minority infants are proposed: cultural beliefs and caregiving practices, health status and health care practices, family structure and characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and biological factors. It is suggested that differences exist between minority and Anglo families in their developmental goals and interactions during the infancy period. The health status of some minority groups places these infants in an at-risk category for neurodevelopmental problems. The family context is characterized by younger mothers, a higher percentage of single heads of households, but also large, extended families. Socioeconomic factors have a pervasive influence on both infants and parents, and the contribution of biological factors is suggested but poorly understood. It is concluded that these factors act synergistically to place these infants in alternative (not necessarily deviant) developmental pathways, or in "at-risk" categories for neurodevelopmental problems, while canalization processes are operating to insure that major developmental milestones are achieved.     

儿童学习不良与教师支持策略

该文界定了儿童学习不良的内涵和特征，指出学习不良主要有三方面的症状表现，并在对导致儿童学习不良的原因进行分析的基础上，提出了具体的教师支持策略。     

Reading-related Literacy Learning of Young Adults with Down Syndrome: Findings from a three year teaching and research program

A number of researchers have argued that young adults with Down syndrome could benefit from continued literacy education beyond the years of compulsory education. Specifically, research has shown that, contrary to myths related to plateaux of learning, cognitive development in individuals with Down syndrome continues into adolescence and beyond. Further, it is also claimed that the young adult years may be the optimal time to focus on literacy development. Based on this research and the ongoing work of the Down Syndrome Research Project (DSRP) a literacy program for young adults with Down syndrome was established at The University of Queensland in 1998 (see Moni & Jobling, 2000). LATCH-ON (Literacy and Technology Hands-On) provides a two year program of teaching and learning activities based on socio-cultural models of literacy in which the explicit teaching of reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing is integrated with the development of technological literacies. Assessments of reading were undertaken using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability-Revised (Neale, 1988) and Concepts About Print (Clay, 1979) prior to students entering the program and on completion of the two year course. This paper reports three years of data about the reading-related literacy learning of 17 young adults who have participated in the program. These findings are discussed in terms of the diverse nature of the students' needs, the variability of their reading skills, and issues for educators.     

Fostering Faculty Collaboration in Learning Communities: A Developmental Approach

Colleges and universities are adopting learning communities to increase student learning and build cohesion. As learning communities grow in popularity, institutions need to invest in faculty development (Oates, 2001) and understand faculty experiences (Mullen, 2001). The University of Hartford created a program that prepared faculty for collaborative teaching in first-year learning communities. Faculty learned to engage in collaborative behaviors, to think outside disciplinary borders, and to employ a specific template as a heuristic for course development. Results of focus group research about the faculty experience and the impact of the experience on their pedagogy are summarized.Catherine B. Stevenson, whose M.A. and Ph.D. are from New York University, is currently an Associate Professor of English and Drama and Academic Dean of International and Honors Programs. She and her coauthors are affiliated with the University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT. Her special interests include nineteenth and twentieth century literature, curriculum reform, pedagogy, and international education. Robert L. Duran, Professor in the School of Communication, who earned his M.A. at West Virginia University and Ph.D. at Bowling Green State University, is a specialist in program evaluation, evaluation research, and research methods. Karen A. Barrett, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, has an M.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her special interests include interdisciplinary general education curriculum, higher education administration, and diagnostic hematology and microbiology. Guy C. Colarulli, earned an M.A. at the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. at The American University. He is the Associate Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, whose special interests include Higher Education Administration, First-Year Experience, as well as American Government, and Politics     

Subitisation in Number Tasks in Children with Down Syndrome

ABSTRACT

This paper presents results from the development of a sequence for teaching/learning number concepts for children with Down syndrome that is adapted to their cognitive characteristics and to certain traits of their executive functioning. The mathematical objective is to promote subitising during the initial number learning in order to develop cardinality, composition-decomposition and number facts. We outline activities with different materials and resources, supported by the use of augmentative communication. We present the results of a case study involving two children with Down syndrome (7 and 8 years of age) who followed the proposed intervention for one academic year. The results indicated a different tendency when using the subitising strategy in both children and also depended on the physical arrangement of the objects to be counted. The benefits found were the children’s flexibility in using subitising and counting in numerical activities and the spontaneous use of augmentative communication.     

Self‐awareness in Young Adults with Down Syndrome: I. Awareness of Down syndrome and disability

The limited literature on awareness of differences and stigma in people with intellectual disabilities is largely sociological, emphasises pathology, and has rarely used a developmental perspective with representative samples. Interviews, photographs and standardised tests were used to investigate such awareness with 77 young adults with Down syndrome and their parents. Awareness and social categorisation were significantly associated with verbal mental age, and closely approximated the typical social‐cognitive developmental sequence. No associations were found between awareness and chronological age, parent telling, gender, and mainstream experience. Only those with verbal mental ages from around 8 years were making relative social comparisons and beginning to form complex social categories of Down syndrome/disability. Around 13% were rated as showing a negative emotional reaction to Down syndrome/disability, and most of these were male. A similar percentage, mostly female and with higher verbal mental ages, discussed concerns and limitations. Even so, they all had high self‐esteem and awareness of Down syndrome and disability did not appear to be a major issue. A number of coping mechanisms to maintain a positive sense of self were suggested. It is argued that both sociological and developmental models are required to inform parent and professional attempts to facilitate self‐awareness.     

Integration of Sequential Information for Shape Perception by Infants: A Developmental Study

Perception of form by spatiotemporal integration was investigated in 3 experiments. In the first, infants aged 8, 10, and 12 months were tested using a novelty-preference procedure to determine the earliest age at which recognition of rectilinear and curvilinear form occurred. Infants were shown a light-point tracing of the outline of a figure, followed by simultaneous presentation of 2 test objects, one of the same shape as the tracing and one of a different shape. The tracing was double the size of the test objects. Only infants in the oldest group responded selectively by looking longer at the object of different shape. In the second experiment with 12-month-old infants only, it was shown that recognition of rectilinear, but not curvilinear, form occurred despite a difference in the orientation and size of tracing and object. Computer-generated tracings were used in the final experiment to compare form recognition for 2D and 3D stimuli. Selective responding occurred only for the latter. These findings show that by 12 months infants perceive the correspondence between the figural properties of a tracing and its extended form, but that this perception is dependent on the provision of depth cues.     

Stress in Families of Young Children with Down Syndrome, Williams Syndrome, and Smith-Magenis Syndrome

This study examined whether stress levels differ in families of young children with three different genetic etiologies of mental retardation, and whether child characteristics associated with those genetic etiologies may help explain these differences. Participants were sixty families of young children with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Smith-Magenis syndrome. All children were between the ages of 3 and 10 years. Parents completed Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist, the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Friedrich edition, and a demographic questionnaire. Families of children with Down syndrome experienced significantly less Pessimism than the other two etiology groups and significantly less Parent and Family Problems than families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome. The strongest predictor of Parent and Family Problems was maladaptive behavior in Smith-Magenis syndrome, younger age in Down syndrome, and both maladaptive behavior and younger age in Williams syndrome. Maladaptive behavior predicted Pessimism in families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome, but none of the variables examined significantly predicted Pessimism in the other two syndromes. The importance of behavioral phenotype research is discussed for practitioners working with young children with mental retardation and their families.     

Stress in Families of Young Children with Down Syndrome,Williams Syndrome,and Smith-Magenis Syndrome

This study examined whether stress levels differ in families of young children with three different genetic etiologies of mental retardation, and whether child characteristics associated with those genetic etiologies may help explain these differences. Participants were sixty families of young children with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Smith-Magenis syndrome. All children were between the ages of 3 and 10 years. Parents completed Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist, the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Friedrich edition, and a demographic questionnaire. Families of children with Down syndrome experienced significantly less Pessimism than the other two etiology groups and significantly less Parent and Family Problems than families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome. The strongest predictor of Parent and Family Problems was maladaptive behavior in Smith-Magenis syndrome, younger age in Down syndrome, and both maladaptive behavior and younger age in Williams syndrome. Maladaptive behavior predicted Pessimism in families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome, but none of the variables examined significantly predicted Pessimism in the other two syndromes. The importance of behavioral phenotype research is discussed for practitioners working with young children with mental retardation and their families.     

A Mental Age-Matched Comparison Study of Delay of Gratification in Children with Down Syndrome

The performance of 25 children with Down syndrome on delay of gratification tasks was compared with that of a mental age-matched group of typically developing children. Delay tasks included both other- and self-imposed tasks. Children with Down syndrome were significantly less able to delay gratification than the comparison group on two of the three tasks. Receptive language was associated with delay on the self-imposed task for the typically developing group but not for children with Down syndrome. It is hypothesised that there may be a lag in the development of self-regulation that is greater than the lag between chronological and mental age for children with Down syndrome, with expressive language playing a role in this lag. The practice of using mental age as the method for matching groups of children with Down syndrome with typically developing children is called into question by the results of this study.     

Predictors of Handwriting in Adolescents and Adults with Down Syndrome

Handwriting is a skill that is constantly used in schools and in the workplace – two environments that are targeted in French legislation passed in 2005 on the integration of people with disabilities. The aim of the present study was to determine the predictive factors for handwriting speed and quality in adolescents and adults with Down syndrome (DS), looking at chronological and developmental age, pen grasp and perceptual-motor processing, which are known to contribute to both the speed and quality of handwriting. Results yielded by simple linear and curvilinear analyses revealed that handwriting speed and quality are related to chronological age, developmental age and perceptual-motor processing. Moreover, multiple linear regressions showed that handwriting quality can be predicted by fine motor coordination. We discuss the influence of different factors on handwriting acquisition in individuals with DS, and the implications in terms of intervention programmes.     

Effects of Treatment of Hearing Loss in Middle‐Aged Persons with Down Syndrome: A Pilot Study

The extent to which therapeutic intervention of hearing loss may yield better communication and social interaction was investigated in a pilot study during seven months after treatment in twelve hearing impaired subjects with Down syndrome with a mean age of 50.6 years. Although according to spontaneous observations of staff subtle positive reactions to treatment occurred in five subjects, no significant improvement could be measured by means of objective methods. The influence of personal factors like degree of retardation and language development, severity and duration of hearing impairment, age, period of habituation and training, and environmental factors, is to be studied further.