Drumming Lessons' Influence on Children With Down Syndrome

Effects of Drumming Lessons on Brain and Behavior in Children With Down Syndrome

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if drumming lessons can increase self-control in children with Down syndrome. The main question it aims to answer is whether 2 months of drumming lessons can improve the behavioral control and timing skills in children with Down syndrome. Participants are between 7 and 15 years of age and receive two months of drumming lessons given by a professional drummer with extensive experience working with children with Down syndrome. Children in the experimental group visit our lab once before lessons start and once after lessons are completed. Children in the control group visit our lab twice before they start their lessons. Lab visits include brain recordings taken using a net-style cap, computer tasks, and drumming to music.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Down Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: 2 months of drumming lessons given by a professional drummer with extensive experience working with children with Down syndrome; Behavioral: Lessons after measurement

Detailed Description

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal cause of cognitive disability, and it affects approximately 1 in 700 live births. Although the genetic etiology of DS (a complete or partial third 21st chromosome) has been known for over 50 years, many fundamental questions about how to support high quality of life for individuals with DS remain unanswered. One area of relative weakness in DS is Inhibitory Control (IC). This skill is important for daily tasks such as following directions, making decisions, and managing money among other tasks. Existing research demonstrates a clear link between playing the drums and IC. In the proposed research, we will conduct an experiment in which 7- to 12-year-old children are randomly assigned to the Experimental (EXP) and Wait List Control (WLC) conditions. In the EXP condition, children will receive drumming lessons between Visit 1 and Visit 2, and in the Wait List Control group, children will receive drumming lessons after Visit 2. In this way, all children will receive drumming lessons, but only the EXP group will show effects of the drumming lessons in Visit 2. Testing conducted during Visits 1 and 2 will include behavioral and neural measures of inhibitory control and drumming, neural measures of beat perception, and parent report of social behavior (via Standardized questionnaire). Our predictions are that children in the EXP condition will show improvements in both measures of IC and increases in precision in the beat perception and drumming tasks. We also expect that parent report of children's behavior on the social skills questionnaire will show improvement. Across the EXP and WLC conditions, we expect no differences at Visit 1 but significant differences between conditions at Visit 2.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Amy Needham, PhD; Phone Number: 16154999992; Email: amy.needham@vanderbilt.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Caroline Danforth, MS; Phone Number: (615) 343-1079; Email: caroline.danforth@vanderbilt.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37203
      • Recruiting
      • Vanderbilt University
      • Contact: Caroline Danforth, MS; Phone Number: 615-343-1079; Email: vuhandsonplaylab@gmail.com
      • Contact: Alison Rubin, BA; Phone Number: 615-343-1079; Email: vuhandsonplaylab@gmail.com
      • Principal Investigator: Amy Needham, PhD
      • Sub-Investigator: Miriam Lense, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Down syndrome

Exclusion Criteria:

• Already taken drumming lessons
• Uncorrected hearing loss
• Uncorrected vision loss

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group; Experimental group will receive the drumming lesson intervention between baseline and testing approximately 2 to 3 months later, so the effects of the intervention can be assessed in the lab measures.	Behavioral: 2 months of drumming lessons given by a professional drummer with extensive experience working with children with Down syndrome; Drumming lessons consisting of how to use hands to drum on djembe drum, using alternating hands to drum, drumming to a metronome and to music.
Other: Control group; Children in the Control condition will receive drumming lessons only after they have completed lab baseline and testing measures, about 2 to 3 months later.	Behavioral: Lessons after measurement; Receiving lessons after the two lab visits should still offer any possible positive effects to participants while still allowing us to compare the Control group children's behaviors to those of the Experimental group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Zoo task	Behavioral "Go/No go" task done on a computer designed to assess children's inhibitory control	Baseline to two months
Statue task	Child is encouraged to 'become a statue' by holding their body in a position and not moving	Baseline to two months
Beat Perception	EEG measure of brain activity during passive listening to music	Baseline to two months
Beat production	EEG and behavioral measures of when child thinks beat is happening during music or metronome	Baseline to two months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Amy Needham, PhD, Vanderbilt University; Study Director: Miriam Lense, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Cahart MS, Amad A, Draper SB, Lowry RG, Marino L, Carey C, Ginestet CE, Smith MS, Williams SCR. The effect of learning to drum on behavior and brain function in autistic adolescents. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jun 7;119(23):e2106244119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2106244119. Epub 2022 May 31.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 15, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 15, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 3, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): September 5, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 19, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 15, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Inhibitory control; Intervention study; Children with Down syndrome;; Effects of drumming lessons; Effects on brain and behavior; Beat perception
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Congenital Abnormalities; Abnormalities, Multiple; Intellectual Disability; Chromosome Disorders; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities; Down Syndrome; Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: 230465

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: In this initial investigation, it seems unlikely that data at the participant level would be informative to other researchers. If it becomes clear during the study that sharing of IPD actually would be beneficial, we will recontact participants for their consent to share this information and share those datasets for which we obtain consent.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No