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.     

Verbal Short‐term Memory Performance in Pupils with Down Syndrome

Research has shown that verbal short‐term memory span is shorter in individuals with Down syndrome than in typically developing individuals of equivalent mental age, but little attention has been given to variations within or across groups. Differences in the environment and in particular educational experiences may play a part in the relative ease or difficulty with which children remember verbal material. This article explores the performance of 26 Egyptian pupils with Down syndrome and 26 Egyptian typically developing children on two verbal short‐term memory tests: digit recall and non‐word repetition tasks. The findings of the study revealed that typically developing children showed superior performance on these tasks to that of pupils with Down syndrome, whose performance was both lower and revealed a narrower range of attainment. Comparisons with the performance of children with Down syndrome in this study suggested that not only did the children with Down syndrome perform more poorly than the typically developing children, their profile also appeared worse than the results of studies of children with a similar mental age with Down syndrome carried out in western countries. The results from this study suggested that, while deficits in verbal short‐term memory in Down syndrome may well be universal, it is important to recognise that performances may vary as a consequence of culture and educational experiences. The significance of these findings is explored with reference to approaches to education and how these are conceptualised in relation to children with disabilities.     

Goal-Directed Behavior in Children with Down Syndrome: The Role of Joint Play Situations

Children's goal-directed behaviors were examined in independent play sessions before and after a joint-play interaction with their mothers for a group of children with Down syndrome (n = 22) and a control group of mental and language age matched typically developing children (n = 24). While both groups showed comparable amounts of time spent in independent goal-directed play during the pre session and similar play responses with their mothers during the joint play session, only the control children significantly increased their goal-directed behavior from the pre to the post session. Maternal behaviors that provided information about how to use the toy predicted increases from the pre to post sessions in independent goal-directed play but only for the control children. These findings suggest that children with Down syndrome may have more difficulty transferring the goal-directed play behaviors they can use with support from their mothers to an independent play situation. Findings are discussed in relation to early education program design for children with Down syndrome.     

Goal-Directed Behavior in Children with Down Syndrome: The Role of Joint Play Situations

Children's goal-directed behaviors were examined in independent play sessions before and after a joint-play interaction with their mothers for a group of children with Down syndrome (n = 22) and a control group of mental and language age matched typically developing children (n = 24). While both groups showed comparable amounts of time spent in independent goal-directed play during the pre session and similar play responses with their mothers during the joint play session, only the control children significantly increased their goal-directed behavior from the pre to the post session. Maternal behaviors that provided information about how to use the toy predicted increases from the pre to post sessions in independent goal-directed play but only for the control children. These findings suggest that children with Down syndrome may have more difficulty transferring the goal-directed play behaviors they can use with support from their mothers to an independent play situation. Findings are discussed in relation to early education program design for children with Down syndrome.     

Enhancing Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome

This study investigated the effectiveness of a phonological awareness intervention for 4‐year‐old children with Down syndrome. Seven children with Down syndrome who attended an early intervention centre participated in the intervention. Their performance on measures of phonological awareness (initial phoneme identity), letter name and sound knowledge, and print concepts pre‐intervention and post‐intervention, was compared with that of a randomly selected group of age‐matched peers with typical development. The intervention involved print referencing techniques whereby the children’s parents were instructed to bring the children’s attention to targeted letters and sounds within words and to draw their attention to the initial phonemes in words during daily shared book reading activities. The intervention was presented for a 6‐week period. The results indicated a significant treatment effect on phonological awareness and letter knowledge for the children with Down syndrome. Additionally, above‐chance performance on the initial phoneme identity task was contingent on letter knowledge of the particular phoneme. Individual profiles of the children with Down syndrome pre‐intervention and post‐intervention are presented, and implications for the management of preschool children approaching the age of integration into mainstream primary schools are discussed.     

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.     

Less Stress,More Rewarding: Parenting Children With Down Syndrome

Objective. We argue that, compared to other children with disabilities, parents of children with Down syndrome may experience less stress and more rewards. Design. After reviewing changes in studies examining parenting children with disabilities, we note how specific genetic disorders predispose children to different, etiology-related behaviors, which in turn predispose their parents to particular reactions. We then survey studies of both stress and rewardingness in parents of children with Down syndrome versus children with other disabilities. Results. Parents of children with Down syndrome report less stress and more child-related rewards than parents of children with other disabilities; indeed, parents of children with Down syndrome may feel equally rewarded compared to parents of same-aged typical children. Conclusions. By comparing feelings of parents of children with Down syndrome versus children with other disabilities, we begin to understand which child behaviors bring about which parental reactions. Such information provides both theoretical and practical benefits to professionals interested in parenting.     

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.     

Development in Children With Down Syndrome: facts,findings, the future

This broad overview of progress in our understanding of Down syndrome and of the problems it presents for children affected by it was prompted by the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Down Syndrome Research Program at the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre, The University of Queensland. This internationally‐acclaimed program has focused on many aspects of development in Down syndrome and on how Down syndrome impacts on the lives of children and their families. Some of the many contributions the Schonell team have made to our knowledge of Down syndrome are covered in other papers in this special issue and will also be mentioned below. In evaluating the role of this work, however, it is important to put it into context. This paper therefore provides a brief‐‐and necessarily selective‐‐ account of some past and present findings from research into Down syndrome and makes some tentative suggestions as to what may be important avenues of investigation for the next generation of researchers.     

An exploration of primary to secondary school transition planning for children with Down’s syndrome

This study explores factors that influence decisions about transition and what works for children with Down’s syndrome transferring from primary to secondary school. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews to gain the views of support staff and parents of two children with Down’s syndrome. One parent had chosen mainstream secondary school and was negotiating the transition, whilst the other was making decisions around future placement. The Voice of the Child (VoC) was elicited using rating scales. Thematic analysis revealed practical and ideological insights into transition, highlighting the need for parental involvement, planned transition and recognition of the individual needs of the child. The educational and social implications of these findings are considered along with directions for future research.     

Behaviour Problems in the Siblings of Children With Down Syndrome: associations with family responsibilities and parental stress

Forty‐five families with a child with Down syndrome and 88 comparison families provided information about their children's behaviour problems and their involvement in household tasks. In addition, parental stress was measured using the Parenting domain of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990). There were no differences between the siblings of a child with Down syndrome and comparison children on mothers’ or fathers’ reports of problem behaviour. Siblings of a child with Down syndrome also did not differ in their contribution to family tasks, however, for the brothers of a child with Down syndrome there were significant negative correlations between household tasks and behaviour problems on fathers’ report. Parents of a child with Down syndrome reported more stress than comparison parents and stress was related to reports of problem behaviour for some parent groups.     

Literacy skills in children and adolescents with Down syndrome

Research has found that many children andadolescents with Down syndrome acquire somelevel of reading ability. Studies to date havedocumented that cognition, language, andphonological awareness contribute tovariability observed in performance onconventional literacy measures for thispopulation, although the extent of relativecontributions varies among studies. Less isknown about the relationship of early literacyskills to conventional reading, or howrelationships among variables that supportliteracy acquisition are similar or differentfrom those observed in typically developingchildren. In this project, cognition,language, early literacy, phonologicalawareness and reading skills were examined in agroup of children and adolescents with Downsyndrome (aged 5;06 to 17;03) and a group oftypically developing children (aged 3;06 to5;03) matched for nonverbal cognition. Resultsrevealed broad variability in performance onearly literacy and reading measures in personswith Down syndrome. Comparisons with mental age-matchedchildren indicated differences in the relativecontribution of language and cognition toreading ability, with language being a strongerpredictor in the group with Down syndrome.     

Training reading and phoneme awareness skills in children with Down syndrome

The authors report a short-term reading intervention study involving 15 children with Down syndrome (DS) who attended mainstream schools. The intervention programme taught children phoneme segmentation and blending skills in the context of learning letter-sounds and working with words in books. The children were taught by their learning support assistants, who received special training for this purpose. Compared to a waiting group, a group of eight children with DS improved significantly on measures of early literacy skills (letter-sound knowledge, Early Word Recognition) following eight weeks of intervention. The waiting group started to make progress once they received the intervention. Both groups maintained progress on the literacy measures five months after the intervention had finished. The results suggest that children with DS can benefit from structured, phonics-based reading intervention.     

Vignettes from Sesame Street: Preschooler's Ideas about Children with Down Syndrome and Physical Disability

The results of previous research suggest that while preschool children have a beginning understanding of disabilities that involve the use of adaptive equipment, they have little awareness of disabilities such as Down syndrome which have less overt distinguishing characteristics. In this study, videotaped segments from the children's television show, Sesame Street, were used to explore children's ideas about Down syndrome and physical disability. Participants included 41 preschool children. While a majority of participating children were aware that each child in the videotapes had some difficulties performing age-appropriate tasks, children had significantly fewer ideas about why the child with Down syndrome had this difficulty. Significantly more thought that the child with Down syndrome could do more “if he tried really hard” when compared with the child with a physical disability. These results are discussed in terms of children's developing understanding of disabilities and implications for using media to teach preschoolers about people with disabilities.     

Vignettes from Sesame Street: Preschooler's Ideas about Children with Down Syndrome and Physical Disability

The results of previous research suggest that while preschool children have a beginning understanding of disabilities that involve the use of adaptive equipment, they have little awareness of disabilities such as Down syndrome which have less overt distinguishing characteristics. In this study, videotaped segments from the children's television show, Sesame Street, were used to explore children's ideas about Down syndrome and physical disability. Participants included 41 preschool children. While a majority of participating children were aware that each child in the videotapes had some difficulties performing age-appropriate tasks, children had significantly fewer ideas about why the child with Down syndrome had this difficulty. Significantly more thought that the child with Down syndrome could do more "if he tried really hard" when compared with the child with a physical disability. These results are discussed in terms of children's developing understanding of disabilities and implications for using media to teach preschoolers about people with disabilities.     

Down Syndrome Temperament: The Stereotype at Middle Childhood and Adolescence

MOTHERS AND TEACHERS of 94 children (53 boys) with Down syndrome, between 8 and 14 years of age, rated the children on a temperament scale and provided an overall impression as to whether the child was difficult in comparison with other children. Maternal ratings on the Middle Childhood Questionnaire showed significant differences from standardization scores. Children with Down syndrome were given ratings as less active, more predictable, of more positive mood, less persistent, and more distractible. Some of these dimensions favour the amiable personality stereotype for the syndrome but low persistence was associated with maternal impressions of difficulty. There was little agreement between mothers and teachers regarding the individual children who were rated as being significantly easier or more difficult than other children. Results with a subgroup (n = 32) showed that externalizing behaviours were significantly related to both mother and teacher impressions of difficulty and that mothers also found intense, active, distractible behaviour difficult.     

Children with Down syndrome: Implications of a contextual approach

Earlier research on the development of children with Down syndrome is summarized from the standpoint of the development-difference debate. While some progress is recognized, it is argued that this research has neglected to theorize the concept of context and has, therefor, to a large extent created a notion of a universal child with Down syndrome. Three such neglected contexts are discussed; (1) the controlled setting, (2) the life context of the children, and, (3) culture as a context of development. With the point of departure in the criticism of how these contexts have been theorized, it is argued that (1) it is difficult to search for specific weaknesses in children with Down syndrome, (2) little is known about what factors in the lifes of these children that are important to development, and, (3) since cultures structure development differently, the development of children with Down syndrome will consequently vary from culture to culture. An outline of a framework for the study of the development of children with Down syndrome is proposed as well as its methodological implications. It is suggested that a partly new way of speaking about the development of children with Down syndrome is needed.     

Visions for literacy: parents’ aspirations for reading in children with Down syndrome

Although children with Down syndrome (DS) can learn to read, few studies have explored parental perspectives on the reading development of this group of children. This article, written by Leila Ricci and Anna Osipova, from California State University, explores visions and expectations regarding reading held by parents of children with Down syndrome in the US. Parents of 50 children with DS (aged three to 13 years) completed a survey about their children's interest in reading and responded to open‐ended questions inquiring about their views on their children's reading development. A majority of parents in this study described their children's positive attitude toward reading, stated their reading‐related goals for their children, defined their children's relative strengths in reading, and shared strategies used in the home to promote literacy in this population. Parents pay close attention to and have high expectations for their children's reading achievement, and thereby would benefit from partnerships with informed educators willing and capable of teaching reading to children with DS.     

Relationships among professionals' knowledge, experience, and expectations regarding cochlear implants

THE PRESENT STUDY examined the relationships between teachers' and communication clinicians' self-reported knowledge on cochlear implants and their expectations of CIs. The authors also explored these professionals' views regarding the child's communication mode, educational setting, and social options following cochlear implantation. The participants were 47 teachers of deaf students and 35 communication clinicians. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in self-reported knowledge on CI. Both groups knew very little about mapping, costs, or insurance, and reported good knowledge about candidacy. Expectations from CIs were moderate to high, and were significantly related to respondents' knowledge and specific experience with CIs. Most professionals in both groups supported spoken-language communication, individual inclusion, and social exposure to children with normal hearing as well as to children with hearing impairments.