Reprints Index

2 resources found.

• Profiles and development of adaptive behavior in children with Down syndrome
  Elisabeth Dykens, Robert Hodapp and David Evans
  The profiles and developmental trajectories of adaptive behavior were cross-sectionally examined in 80 children with Down syndrome ages I to 11.5 years using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Profile findings indicated a significant weakness in communication relative to daily living and socialization skills. Within communication itself, expressive language was significantly weaker than receptive skills, especially when children's overall communicative levels were above 24 months. One to 6-year-old children showed significant age-related gains in adaptive functioning, but older subjects showed no relation between age and adaptive behavior. There was, however, increased variability within this older group, implying that not all children plateau in adaptive development during the middle childhood years. Implications for development in Down syndrome and intervention programs were discussed.
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  Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 2006. doi:10.3104/reprints.293
• The emergence of a syndrome-specific personality profile in young children with Down syndrome
  Deborah Fidler
  For decades, researchers and practitioners have attempted to find evidence for a personality stereotype in individuals with Down syndrome that includes a pleasant, affectionate, and passive behaviour style. However, a more nuanced exploration of personality-motivation in Down syndrome reveals complexity beyond this pleasant stereotype, including reports of a less persistent motivational orientation and an over-reliance on social behaviours during cognitively-challenging tasks. It is hypothesised that the personality-motivation profile observed in individuals with Down syndrome emerges as a result of the cross-domain relations between more primary (cognitive, social-emotional) aspects of the Down syndrome behavioural phenotype. Young children with Down syndrome show a general profile of delays in the development of instrumental thinking coupled with emerging relative strengths in social-emotional functioning. If it is true that a less persistent motivational orientation emerges as a secondary phenotypic result of more primary strengths in social functioning and deficits in instrumental (means-end) thinking, it may be possible to alter the developmental trajectory of this personality-motivation profile with targeted and time-sensitive intervention. Implications for intervention planning are discussed.
  [HTML Document]
  Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 2006. doi:10.3104/reprints.305