Personal independence of adult mentally retarded men with fragile-X syndrome.

In a large study of the psychosocial functioning of mentally retarded adults with fra(X) syndrome we also evaluated their personal independence. 58 mentally retarded adult men with a cytogenetically confirmed diagnosis of fra(X) syndrome and 58 fra(X) negative control persons with a comparable age, level of cognitive development, actual living conditions and length of institutionalization were evaluated with three Dutch standardized behavioral scales. In spite of comparable social competency scores in both research groups, two significant different aspects were found: 1) Fra(X) men obtained a higher level of elementary knowledge and skillfulness in rudimentary dealing with personal needs and household tasks in daily life in comparison with the control group; 2) moderately mentally retarded fra(X) adults were practising more preacademic reading, calculating and writing skills in daily life than control persons.