Socio-Cognitive Understanding: A Strength or Weakness in Down's Syndrome?

Autor/in	Wishart, J. G.
Titel	Socio-Cognitive Understanding: A Strength or Weakness in Down's Syndrome?
Quelle	In: Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 51 (2007) 12, S.996-1005 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0964-2633
DOI	10.1111/j.1365-2788.2007.01007.x
Schlagwörter	Object Permanence; Nonverbal Communication; Social Cognition; Cognitive Ability; Down Syndrome; Children; Recognition (Psychology); Cooperative Learning; Task Analysis; Case Studies; Longitudinal Studies; Measures (Individuals); Comparative Analysis; Mental Retardation; Interpersonal Competence + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Objektpermanenz; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Soziale Kognition; Denkfähigkeit; 'Downs Syndrome; Down''s Syndrome'; Down-Syndrom; Child; Kind; Kinder; Recognition; Wiedererkennen; Kooperatives Lernen; Aufgabenanalyse; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; Messdaten; Geistige Behinderung; Interpersonale Kompetenz
Abstract	Background: Social understanding is often thought to be relatively "protected" in children with Down's syndrome (DS) and to underlie the outgoing personality characteristically attributed to them. This paper draws together findings from our studies of behaviours during object concept testing, generally considered a theoretically "pure" measure of early cognitive ability, and from more recent work focusing on two key socio-cognitive skills: recognising facial expressions of emotion and collaborative learning. Age range of children studied was 4 months to 18 years. Methods: Using standardised hiding tasks, object concept ability was assessed cross-sectionally and longitudinally in children with DS and in age- or stage-matched typically developing (TD) children. Stability of cognitive advances was assessed and similarities/differences in developmental pathways explored. In the emotion recognition studies, the ability to distinguish six primary emotions was measured, with performance compared with that of developmentally-matched TD children and age-matched children with intellectual disabilities of similar severity but differing aetiology (non-specific intellectual disability (NSID) or fragile X syndrome (FXS)). In the collaborative learning study, the impact on sorting skills of working with a peer on a conceptually related task was measured, with outcomes compared in DS, NSID and TD child pairings. Results: Evidence of counterproductive, socially-based strategies being inappropriately applied by children with DS in learning contexts was found in both the object concept and collaborative learning studies, along with inefficient use of current cognitive and linguistic abilities. Emotion recognition weaknesses were also identified, although deficits were relative rather than absolute and individual variability was marked. Conclusions: In line with emerging evidence from other research teams, findings suggest possible difficulties in some core aspects of interpersonal functioning in DS, with both qualitative and quantitative differences in how social cognition develops and is applied in learning contexts. Implications for development and for behavioural phenotype theory are briefly discussed. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10