Evaluating Verbal Fluency Outcome Measures in Children With Down Syndrome

Area of Science:

• Neuropsychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Children with Down syndrome often require specialized outcome measures for clinical trials.
• Verbal fluency tasks assess cognitive functions like language and executive function.
• Evaluating existing tasks for suitability in this population is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the psychometric properties of a modified verbal fluency task.
• To assess its reliability and feasibility as an outcome measure for children with Down syndrome.
• To explore its correlation with age, IQ, and sex.

Main Methods:

• Eighty-five children with Down syndrome completed a modified verbal fluency task at two time points.
• Psychometric properties including reliability and feasibility were evaluated.
• Correlations with chronological age, IQ, and sex were analyzed.

Main Results:

• The overall verbal fluency measure did not meet predefined reliability and feasibility criteria.
• Feasibility was higher for semantic fluency trials compared to phonemic fluency trials.
• Performance correlated with chronological age and IQ; no sex differences were observed.

Conclusions:

• The semantic verbal fluency trials may be suitable for children with Down syndrome aged 10 and older.
• Further refinement is needed to enhance the overall reliability and feasibility of the task for clinical trials.
• This task shows potential as a targeted outcome measure for specific age groups within the Down syndrome population.