Dr. Erez Miller
Task Mastery And Peer Relations In Children With Down Syndrome And Heart Disease
Descriptors: mental retardation, Down syndrome, chronic diseases, young children, early childhood development, task mastery, peer relations
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is present in 40% to 60% of infants with Down syndrome (DS). We examined the effects of CHD on cognitive (specifically, task mastery) and social (specifically, peer relations) development among young children with DS. We compared children with DS and CHD (n=17) and children with DS but without CHD (n=31) in preschool classrooms. Children were observed at ages 3 and 5, using the Bronson Social and Task Skills Profile (Bronson, 1985). The main results indicate that children with DS and CHD displayed significantly lower abilities of task mastery at age 5 compared to DS children without CHD. In addition, CHD predicted 30.2% (p<.001) of the variance in task mastery at age 5 among children with DS and CHD. The meaning and implications of these results for parents and professionals are discussed.
