Current Research Projects

Reading Comprehension in Children with Down Syndrome and other Intellectual Disability: The Universities of Mississippi, Alabama, and Nebraska are collaborating on this NIH-funded study of reading comprehension skills in individuals with intellectual disability. Often, children with intellectual disabilities do much better with word identification than with reading comprehension. This study looks at why, by examining the relation of language skills to reading comprehension. Understanding the reasons for difficulties in reading comprehension may lead to better ways to teach reading to children with intellectual disabilities. This study will be enrolling participants with intellectual disability, ages 10-15 years, as well as participants who are typically developing, ages 6-10 years.
Cognitive Change in Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual Disability: This NIH-funded study is in collaboration with The University of California, Davis. Memory, language, and nonverbal skills have different patterns of change over the lifespan, and there is concern that in intellectual disability (and in particular Down syndrome), the usual age-related declines may begin at a younger age than in the general population. In some cases, early declines are signs of developing Alzheimer's Disease. The goal of this study is to identify aspects of cognition that begin to decline early as well as aspect of cognition that are still improving. Understanding the changes that occur during the adolescent-to-early adult years could lead to future treatments that could slow the decline. This study will be recruiting individuals with ID ages 15-25 years.
Spatial Malleability in Down Syndrome: This NIH-funded study is in collaboration with Montclair State University in New Jersey. Previous research has shown that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) often struggle with finding their way to a destination. There may be many reasons for this, but this study looks at underlying spatial abilities as a reason. The purpose of the study is to find out if underlying spatial abilities can be improved through experience with games, puzzles, and Legos. The study, led by Dr. Ed Merrill, is being done online and thus, can be done from anywhere. It is recruiting individuals with DS, ages 10-25 years and typically developing children ages 4-9 years.

If you are the parent of or an individual with ID and are interested in participating in one of these studies, email idlab@ua.edu or fconners@ua.edu, or call (205)348-4253!