Delay of gratification: a comparison study of children with Down syndrome, moderate intellectual disability and typical development

BackgroundSelf-regulation has been found to be an important contributor to a range of outcomes, with delay of gratification (a self-regulatory skill) predicting better academic, social and personal functioning. There is some evidence that individuals with Down syndrome have difficulty with delay of gratification. We investigated the question of whether this difficulty is common to intellectual disability irrespective of aetiology, or whether it presents a particular problem for those with Down syndrome. The latter was considered a possibility because of language difficulties in this group