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Exploratory behavior and developmental skill acquisition in infants with Down syndrome
Deborah J Fidler1, Emily Schworer1, Mark A Prince1
1Colorado State University, United States.
Infant Behavior & Development
|February 21, 2019
Summary
Infants with Down syndrome (DS) show varied exploration styles. Active exploration is linked to better cognitive, communication, and motor development, suggesting it
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Infant Behavior
Background:
- Infants learn through object exploration using visual, manual, and oral senses.
- Reduced exploratory behavior is noted in neurodevelopmental disorders like Down syndrome (DS), potentially limiting learning.
- A direct link between exploration patterns and developmental outcomes in DS infants is not well-established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate variability in exploratory behavior among infants with Down syndrome (DS).
- To identify distinct profiles of object exploration in infants with DS.
- To examine the relationship between these exploratory profiles and overall developmental functioning.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Latent Profile Analysis to categorize exploratory behavior in 45 infants with DS.
- Coded object exploration activities for visual, manual, and oral engagement.
- Assessed developmental functioning using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III (BSID-III).
Main Results:
- Identified two distinct exploratory profiles: Active (57.78%) and Passive (42.22%).
- Infants in the Active Exploratory profile demonstrated significantly higher BSID-III cognitive, communication, and motor scores.
- No association was found between exploratory profiles and sex or biomedical risk factors.
Conclusions:
- Early exploratory behavior in infants with DS is heterogeneous, with distinct active and passive profiles.
- Active object exploration is associated with better developmental outcomes in cognitive, communication, and motor domains for infants with DS.
- Impoverished early exploratory behavior may indicate a higher risk for significant developmental delays in infants with Down syndrome.
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