How do Children with Intellectual Disabilities Empathize in Comparison to Typically Developing Children?

Two studies were conducted to better understand how children with intellectual disabilities (ID) empathize with the feelings of others during social interactions. The first study tested hypotheses of developmental delay or difference regarding empathy in 79 children with ID by comparing them with typically developing (TD) children, matched for developmental age or chronological age. The second study examined specific aspects of empathy in 23 children with Down syndrome (DS), compared with 23 nonspecific ID children, matched for developmental age, and TD children, matched for developmental age or chronological age.

An empathy task was administered to the children while their parents completed the French versions of the Empathy Questionnaire and the Griffith Empathy Measure.

The first study showed that ID children showed delayed empathy development but were perceived by their parents as deficient in cognitive empathy. The second study showed that DS children were perceived as being more attentive to the feelings of others than TD children and non-specific ID children, matched for developmental age, and as having affective empathy that was similar to that of TD children matched for chronological age.

These studies have drawn attention to delays or differences in different dimensions of empathy in children with ID and DS, which need to be taken into account in interventions.