The development of the capacity to delay gratification in children with an intellectual disability (2004-2006)

Individuals with intellectual disability have difficulty managing their behaviour when they need to wait for a goal particularly when there are other temptations. This is detrimental to their development as the capacity to delay gratification has been shown to be important for later developmental outcomes such as academic achievement personal relationships and emotional competence. In the first phase the proposed study will investigate factors thought to contribute to this difficulty including language ability use of appropriate strategies and maternal support. The second phase will develop implement and evaluate a parent training program aimed at increasing children s capacity to delay gratification.