Relationship Between Parent and Teacher Reported Executive Functioning and Maladaptive Behaviors in Children With Down Syndrome.
Anna J Esbensen, Emily K Hoffman, Rebecca C Shaffer and 2 others
PMID 34161563WHAT IT FOUND
Teachers reported more executive functioning problems than parents in children with Down syndrome.
Better behavioral regulation and metacognition were linked to fewer attention and externalizing problems. These concurrent links suggest targeting inhibitory and emotional control may help, but do not prove causation.
Key findings
01Teachers identified more children with clinically significant executive functioning challenges than parents did.
02Higher parent-reported behavioral regulation problems were linked to more rule-breaking, aggression, and externalizing behaviors.
03Higher teacher-reported behavioral regulation problems were linked to more attention, rule-breaking, aggression, and externalizing behaviors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if executive functioning problems cause behavioral issues or vice versa. There is potential overlap in how items on the executive functioning and behavior scales are worded, which might inflate the correlation between specific traits like emotional control and aggression. The sample size is relatively small (63 children).
Declared interests
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and other non-U.S. government sources. No conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that improving executive functioning will automatically reduce behavioral problems. This study only shows that these issues occur together at the same time. It does not prove that one causes the other or that treating one will fix the other.