Adults with down syndrome benefit from visual instructions for spatial-temporal aspects of drumming

Ten adults with Down syndrome (DS), 10 mental age-matched, and 10 chronological age-matched participants drummed continuously with both hands for 10 s in response to verbal in-phase ("up," "down") and anti-phase ("left," "right"), visual in-phase (video of both drumsticks moving up and down together) and anti-phase (video of the left, then right drumstick hitting each drum), and auditory in-phase (sound of both drums being hit, then cymbal being hit) and anti-phase (sound of one drum being hit, then the other drum being hit) instructions. Timing and coordination consistency were similar for in-phase and anti-phase drumming for adults with DS, whereas in-phase was more consistent than anti-phase drumming for CA. In addition, spatial-temporal measures showed performance advantages when using visual instructions.