Attention disorder in a group of young Down's syndrome children

Thirteen of the 14 Down's syndrome children in Oxfordshire aged 2-4 years were studied. Quantified attention deficit was recorded for four children in a standardized test situation. This deficit did not correlate with mental age or with social or medical attributes. Temperamental traits did not identify the attention disordered children as 'difficult'. Parental ratings of behaviour revealed a preponderance of conduct-type disorder and problems of parental control among them. There was a precise inverse relationship between a child's ability to engage and maintain attention and measured examiner activity in the test situation. The implications of this for the interactive consequences of this type of attention disorder are discussed.