Nearly all adults with Down syndrome show neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease, including amyloid-β deposition, by their fifth decade of life. In the current study, we examined the association between brain amyloid-β deposition, assessed via in vivo assessments of neocortical Pittsburgh compound B, and scores on an extensive neuropsychological battery of measures of cognitive functioning in 63 adults (31 male, 32 female) with Down syndrome aged 30–53 years who did not exhibit symptoms of dementia. Twenty-two of the adults with Down syndrome were identified as having elevated neocortical Pittsburgh compound B retention levels. There was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.62, P < 0.0001) between age and neocortical Pittsburgh compound B retention. This robust association makes it difficult to discriminate normative age-related decline in cognitive functioning from any potential effects of amyloid-β deposition. When controlling for chronological age in addition to mental age, there were no significant differences between the adults with Down syndrome who had elevated neocortical Pittsburgh compound B retention levels and those who did not on any of the neuropsychological measures. Similarly, when examining Pittsburgh compound B as a continuous variable, after controlling for mental age and chronological age, only the Rivermead Picture Recognition score was significantly negatively associated with neocortical Pittsburgh compound B retention. Our findings indicate that many adults with Down syndrome can tolerate amyloid-β deposition without deleterious effects on cognitive functioning. However, we may have obscured true effects of amyloid-β deposition by controlling for chronological age in our analyses. Moreover, our sample included adults with Down syndrome who were most ‘resistant’ to the effects of amyloid-β deposition, as adults already exhibiting clinical symptoms of dementia symptoms were excluded from the study.

This study explored the impact of parental sleep quality on the experience of behavior problems by children with autism spectrum disorder. A 14-day daily diary was used in a sample of 176 mother–father couples. Dyadic multilevel models were conducted to examine the between-person and within-person effects of previous-night sleep quality on parents’ rating of level of behavior problems by the child with autism spectrum disorder and level of positive and negative affect. Results indicated that persistently poor sleep quality was associated with between-person differences in initial rating of level of behavior problems by the child with autism spectrum disorder for mothers. At a within-person level, previous-night sleep quality moderated the association between rating of level of behavior problems by the child with autism spectrum disorder and level of positive and negative affect in fathers. Child-related stressors exerted less influence on fathers’ affect following a day with poor sleep quality. Interventions aimed at enhancing sleep quality in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder may have important effects on parental psychological well-being.

There is a paucity of research on psychosocial treatments for depression in adults with intellectual disability (ID). In this pilot study, we explored the efficacy of a group CBT treatment that involved a caregiver component in adults with mild ID with a depressive disorder. Sixteen adults with mild ID and a depressive disorder participated in a 10-week group CBT treatment and eight adults with mild ID with a depressive disorder served as a treatment as usual (TAU) control group. Adults with mild ID and caregivers completed measures of depressive symptoms, behavior problems, and social skills at pretreatment, posttreatment, and a 3-month follow-up. Adults with mild ID also completed a series of tasks to measure their understanding of the principles of cognitive therapy pre- and posttreatment. The CBT group demonstrated significant decreases in depressive symptoms and behavior problems from pretreatment to posttreatment and these effects were maintained at a 3-month follow-up. The CBT group demonstrated significant improvements in their ability to infer emotions and thoughts based on various situation-thought-emotion pairings from pretreatment to posttreatment. Findings indicate that adults with mild ID with a depressive disorder benefitted from a group CBT treatment with a caregiver component. Moreover, adults with mild ID appeared to benefit, at least in part, from the cognitive therapy components of the treatment, in addition to the behavior therapy components.