From infant affect expression to symbolic play: the coherence of development in Down syndrome children.

To examine further the coherence of development of a sample of Down syndrome children, assessments were made of the quality and level of play at age 3-5 years. It was found that, with corrections for mental age, the play of these children was similar to that of nonhandicapped children. Moreover, individual differences in the level and quality of play were strongly predicted from Bayley DQ scores obtained at age 2 and by several indexes of affective expressiveness including 1 obtained in the first year of life. This was despite limitations on the performance range represented in the subsample included in this follow-up study. Finally, the various aspects of play, as indexed by 5 separate scales, intercorrelated strongly, suggesting consistent individual differences in the play session itself. All of these findings point to the coherence of development of these children. In addition, it is suggested that early affective assessments are strong predictors of the later functioning of Down syndrome.