Tablet Assessment of Cognition in Down Syndrome: Comparison of Researcher and Caregiver Administration

BACKGROUND: Identifying flexible and rigorous methods to administer assessments in Down syndrome research is critical for limiting participation burden. Tablet assessments have the potential to be presented remotely, but consistency between researcher and caregiver administrations is unknown. METHOD: Participants were 24 children with Down syndrome aged 10-17 years and their caregivers. Children completed two sessions: one administered by their caregiver and one administered by research staff. Tablet measures were selected from the NIH Toolbox and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). RESULTS: There were no significant differences between child performance on researcher-administered compared to caregiver-administered NIH Toolbox Flanker, CANTAB RTI and CANTAB PAL measures. Floor effects impacted additional measures with high agreement (NIH Toolbox Pattern Comparison). CONCLUSIONS: Task completion did not differ across administrators, demonstrating evidence for parents' ability to facilitate assessments. Inconsistent agreement statistics warrant future work in larger samples and additional understanding of child tablet assessment performance.