Immediate and long-term effects of developmental training in children with Down's syndrome

The aim of the present experiment was to determine whether the rate of develoment of a group of mentally retarded children could be improved by early, systematic mental training. Eight children with Down's syndrome, aged from 21 to 69 months, were trained systematically, following the pattern of normal development, over a period of 1 1/2 years. The mental age of the trained children was compared with that of eight matched controls before, during and after the training period. Both groups were living in a small institution, offering a homogeneous environment. Results showed that training had a significant effect on the mental age of the trained children. However, in a follow-up study one year after the completion of training, the good effect was reduced in the trained group, although still higher over-all than the control group. This finding indicates that while early training is effective for mentally retarded children, it must be a continuous process to achieve long-term benefit.