Limitations and Future Directions
Given the lack of studies on the ecological constraints of object retrieval skills in the DS population, we conducted a pilot study with a relatively small sample size. Future studies should attempt to replicate the results with larger sample sizes and longitudinal/cross-sectional comparison of this skill. Additionally, the current study included only a mental-age matched TD control, however, future studies should recruit children with other developmental disabilities to assess the sensitivity and specificity of means end delays in the DS population. Lastly, the current study did not assess the differential impact of task and contextual complexity on the means end exploratory behaviors of children with DS. For an in-depth investigation of this skill, future studies should include a variety of tasks with varying complexities/context.