Adaptive behaviour of Chinese boys with fragile X syndrome.
Chinese boys with fragile X show weaker daily, social, and work skills than both Down syndrome and typical peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zhu et al. (2016) compared daily living skills in three groups of Chinese boys: fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, and typically developing peers.
Parents filled out the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. The survey asked about communication, daily living, social, and work skills.
What they found
Boys with fragile X scored lowest in every area. Their biggest gaps were in work habits, social play, and self-care routines.
Even boys with Down syndrome outperformed them on these items.
How this fits with other research
Stancliffe et al. (2007) ran a similar three-group study and also saw fragile X boys trail behind. Their focus was language, not daily living, so the two papers line up side-by-side.
Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) gave the ASIEP-3 social test to fragile X clients and showed the tool is reliable. Their work gives you a ready-made way to measure the exact social gap Z et al. flagged.
Granich et al. (2016) surveyed parents across six genetic disorders and again found fragile X near the bottom for sociability. Same story, wider lens.
Why it matters
If you work with boys who have fragile X, expect delays in self-care, play, and pre-vocational skills that outrun their cognitive scores. Use the ASIEP-3 or Vineland to track these targets, and start teaching chores, turn-taking, and independent routines earlier than you might for Down syndrome peers.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Adaptive behaviour is closely related to quality of life in children with intellectual disability (ID), but little is known about the adaptive behaviour of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) in China. METHOD: In boys with FXS, the adaptive behaviours in six domains, including self-dependence, locomotion, work skills, communication, socialisation and self-management, were assessed by the Infants-Junior Middle School Students Social-life Abilities Scale. In addition, we compared the adaptive skills of boys with FXS to those of three control groups of boys, including boys with Down syndrome (DS) and typically developing (TD) boys matched by chronological age (CA) or mental age (MA). The profile of the adaptive behaviour of boys with FXS is discussed in detail. RESULTS: Compared to boys with DS, boys with FXS obtained lower scores in three domains in adaptive behaviour, including work skills, socialisation and self-management skills; boys with FXS had better scores in self-dependence and locomotion skills than boys matched for MA; as expected, boys with FXS had significantly poorer adaptive skills in all six domains assessed compared to CA boys. CONCLUSION: The development of adaptive skills in boys with FXS was worse than that of boys with DS. The profile of the adaptive behaviour of boys with FXS establishes a basis for the development of targeted interventions to promote social development in this population.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2016 · doi:10.1111/jir.12222