Manual and oral praxis in adults with Down's syndrome

Mentally handicapped adults with and without Down's syndrome performed single movements and movement sequences following both verbal and demonstration cueing conditions. While the type of cue did not influence the performance of control subjects, Down's syndrome individuals exhibited more error following verbal cueing. These findings could not be explained on the basis of verbal encoding differences between the groups. The results support the notion that Down's syndrome persons suffer from a dissociation of the functional system responsible for speech perception and the system involved with the organization of complex movement.