Psychometric properties of inhibitory control measures among youth with Down syndrome.
A Soltani, E K Schworer, M Altaye and 6 others
PMID 37218393WHAT IT FOUND
Most computerised inhibitory control tests failed feasibility criteria for youth with Down syndrome, but parent and teacher rating scales were reliable.
Analogue tasks with manipulatives worked better than screens. For clinical use, rely on the BRIEF2 or simple physical tasks like the Statue test.
Key findings
01No laboratory measure met the 80% feasibility threshold, with computerised tasks performing significantly worse than analogue tasks.
02Parent and teacher forms of the BRIEF2 Inhibit scale demonstrated good to excellent test-retest reliability and acceptable convergent validity.
03The NEPSY-II Statue task had the highest feasibility among laboratory measures and relatively higher reliability compared to other computerised tasks.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study only included youth aged 6 to 17, so results do not apply to adults with Down syndrome. Participants who could not complete a task were excluded from reliability and validity analyses, meaning the results apply only to the subset who could perform the tasks. Some participants had mental ages below the normed range of the tests, which may have affected feasibility and score distribution. The study did not include a control group of typically developing peers for direct comparison of the psychometric properties.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a child's failure to complete a computerised inhibitory control test indicates a lack of ability. The low feasibility rates suggest the tests themselves may be inappropriate for many youth with Down syndrome, particularly those with lower IQ or younger age, rather than reflecting true cognitive deficits.