Aging in adults with intellectual disabilities.

A cross-sequential design was used to examine changes related to aging in adults with and without Down syndrome (ns = 55 and 75, respectively). Adults received yearly neuropsychological and medical evaluations. Support for precocious aging in adults with Down syndrome was evident only on a test of verbal fluency, with weaker support obtained on a test of fine-motor skills.

Evaluation of screening tools for dementia in older adults with mental retardation.

We compared groups with and without diagnosed dementia matched on IQ, age, and presence of Down syndrome. The Dementia Scale for Down Syndrome and Dementia Questionnaire for Mentally Retarded Persons were used to assess participants. We developed two performance tasks to determine whether they were useful in separating subjects with and without dementia and also used the Reiss Screen.

Assessment of orientation: relationship between informant report and direct measures.

Although informant reports of everyday functioning are often used in dementia assessments, the actual correspondence between such indirect reports of functioning and actual performance has not been examined. Orientation results on the Dementia Questionnaire for Mentally Retarded Persons were compared to those obtained in direct assessment of orientation of 138 adults with mental retardation. Fair to good agreement was found between informant report and direct assessment.

Dementia in adults with Down syndrome: diagnostic challenges.

Although dementia associated with Down syndrome is often presumed to be progressive and irreversible, variations in disease course have been described. In addition, prevalence rates have varied widely among studies. This interim report is a description of the status of 70 adults with Down syndrome who are being followed for signs of dementia.