Young students with Down syndrome: Early longitudinal academic achievement and neuropsychological predictors

ABSTRACT

Background: We examined longitudinal academic achievement and neuropsychological functioning across two time points in young students with Down syndrome (DS) and a typically developing (TD) comparison group equated on nonverbal mental age (NVMA).

Method: Participants engaged in assessments of academic achievement, executive function (EF), and fine-motor integration.

Results: From Time 1 to Time 2, students with DS demonstrated significantly more challenges than the TD group in the acquisition of quantitative skills. Additionally, EF and fine motor integration at Time 1 significantly predicted academic achievement at Time 2 for students with DS.

Conclusions: The interpretation of these results extends our understanding of how early neuropsychological disruptions in DS manifest in the educational context and highlights potential targets for new interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Executive function
• fine motor integration
• math
• literacy
• trisomy 21
• school performance

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the children and families who graciously contributed their time to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Science, Special Education Research Grants (R324A110136).