Developmental Profile and Variability in Preschool-Age Children With Down Syndrome.
Sara Onnivello, Giuseppe Ramacieri, Elisa Rossi and 11 others
In preschool children with Down syndrome, social-emotional and gross motor skills score higher than cognitive, language, and fine motor skills.
Language and social-emotional skills also show the widest individual variation.
Key findings
1Personal-Social-Emotional and Gross Motor domains scored significantly higher than Foundations of Learning, Language and Communication, and Eye and Hand Coordination, while Foundations of Learning and Language and Communication did not differ from each other.
2Language and Communication (SD 10.26) and Personal-Social-Emotional (SD 10.87) showed greater individual variation than Foundations of Learning (SD 7.83) and Eye and Hand Coordination (SD 8.09).
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What it does not show
Forty-three children from a single Italian clinic, so the profile may reflect this specific group rather than all preschool children with Down syndrome. Cross-sectional: one assessment at one time point, so it cannot show whether the peaks and valleys shift as children grow. The Personal-Social-Emotional scale is a single composite score, so it cannot separate social interaction from emotional regulation from adaptive behaviour. Age-equivalent scores were used instead of standard scores because many children hit the floor on standard scoring, but the authors acknowledge these are psychometrically less robust. Thirty of the 43 children were male, and the authors note this mirrors the higher prevalence of males in Down syndrome.
Declared interests
Funded by the Italian government (Complementary National Plan) and two Italian foundations (Fondazione Rosa Pristina, Fondazione Umano Progresso). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume social-emotional skills are uniformly strong in children with Down syndrome. This study found the widest individual variation in that domain (SD 10.87). Some children score well above and some well below the group average. A single assessment snapshot may miss a child who is struggling socially despite the group-level strength.
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