Children with Prader–Willi syndrome vs. Williams syndrome: indirect effects on parents during a jigsaw puzzle task

Background  Genetic disorders predispose individuals to exhibit characteristic behaviours, which in turn elicit particular behaviours from others. In response to the strength of Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) and weakness of Williams syndrome (WS) in visual‐spatial tasks such as jigsaw puzzles, parents’ behaviours can be affected by their child's level of puzzle ability or syndrome diagnosis. Methods  Children were asked to complete two jigsaw puzzles (one with the experimenter and the other with the parent) for 5 min each. Frequencies of parental helping and reinforcement behaviours, along with ratings of parental directiveness, were examined as parents interacted with their children on a jigsaw puzzle task. Within each aetiological group, correlates of parental behaviours with child characteristics were also examined. Results  Compared to parents of children with PWS, parents of children with WS engaged in a more directive style of interaction, and provided more help and reinforcement. Relative to parents of children with higher puzzle abilities (from both aetiologies), parents of children with lower abilities also showed the same pattern. Both the child's aetiology and puzzle abilities were important in predicting parents’ directiveness and helping and reinforcement behaviours. Within the PWS group, parents’ behaviours correlated negatively with the child's puzzle abilities and general cognitive functioning; no such relations occurred in the WS group. Conclusions  Parents’ behaviours were affected by both the child's diagnosis and actual puzzle abilities, suggesting important implications for understanding and intervening with parents and children with different genetic syndromes.