Journal on Developmental Disabilities
Le journal sur les handicaps du développement

Abstract

There is no consensus among clinicians about what instruments best detect dementia in Down syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of various neuropsychological instruments for this purpose. The test battery consisted of: Information and Orientation Questions, Block Design Test, Fuld Object Memory Evaluation, Grocery List, Boston Naming Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised, Test of Apraxia, and the Dementia Scale for Down Syndrome. The tests were administered to 35 people with Down syndrome to compare the group performance of older people with dementia (age 40-59) with older people without dementia (age 40-66) and younger people without dementia (age 28-39). Significant differences were found in performance on tests of information and orientation, immediate and delayed memory, and verbal learning. The two groups without dementia performed better on these tests than the group with dementia. This suggests that the Information and Orientation Questions and the Fuld Object Memory Evaluation are sensitive measures and should be included in neuropsychological test batteries assessing dementia in Down syndrome.

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