The Dice Trails Test: A modified Trail Making Test for children and adults with Down Syndrome

Sandkühler, Katja; Wlasich, Elisabeth; Stadler, Hannah; Müller, Armelle; Heiß, Lena; Wagemann, Olivia; Nübling, Georg; Schenk, Thomas; Danek, Adrian ; Levin, Johannes und Loosli, Sandra V. (2025): The Dice Trails Test: A modified Trail Making Test for children and adults with Down Syndrome. In: Research in Developmental Disabilities, Bd. 160, 104965

Abstract

Background: Psychometrically sound instruments to assess cognitive flexibility in people with Down Syndrome (DS) are lacking. The Trail Making Test (TMT) is well-established but requires reading letters and numerals, limiting its applicability for people with DS.

Aims: To evaluate the psychometric properties and developmental sensitivity of a newly developed TMT adaptation without letters and numerals – the Dice Trails Test (DTT).

Methods: The DTT was administered to 39 children (8–14 years, 46 % female) and 57 adults (18–57 years, 47 % female) with DS. We evaluated feasibility (proportion of participants completing the task), distributional properties, construct validity, developmental sensitivity, and split-half reliability. Nineteen individuals were reassessed for test-retest reliability. Individuals with DS were compared to typically developing (TD) groups matched on chronological and mental age.

Results: The DTT showed adequate feasibility (≥ 80 %) for individuals with DS and mild intellectual disability (ID), no relevant floor effects, acceptable construct validity, developmental sensitivity, good split-half reliability, and preliminary evidence for good test-retest reliability in DS. DTT performance differed between DS and TD individuals matched on chronological age, but not when matched on mental age.

Conclusions: Although limited in applicability for individuals with DS and moderate ID, the DTT shows potential as a direct measure of cognitive flexibility in DS across a broad age range.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Psychologie und Pädagogik > Department Psychologie ; Medizin > Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) ; Medizin > Klinikum der LMU München > Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik mit Friedrich-Baur-Institut
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 0891-4222
• Sprache: Englisch
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 390857198