An interventional study of 2 months of drumming lessons given by a professional drummer with extensive experience working with children with Down syndrome and Lessons after measurement in Down Syndrome, sponsored by Vanderbilt University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 7 Years to 15 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-19.
Sponsored by Vanderbilt University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
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.
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.
438 studies on the registry are indexed under Down Syndrome; 99 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 30 is below the median of 37 across 286 interventional studies indexed under Down Syndrome.
Browse Down Syndrome studies →Vanderbilt University is the lead sponsor of 522 studies on the registry; 20 are open to participants now.
Of its 8 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 5 (63%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
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
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
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.
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.
Zoo task
Behavioral "Go/No go" task done on a computer designed to assess children's inhibitory control
Time frame: Baseline to two months
Statue task
Child is encouraged to 'become a statue' by holding their body in a position and not moving
Time frame: Baseline to two months
Beat Perception
EEG measure of brain activity during passive listening to music
Time frame: Baseline to two months
Beat production
EEG and behavioral measures of when child thinks beat is happening during music or metronome
Time frame: Baseline to two months
Plan to share: No — 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.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.