Down Syndrome Awareness Month – October 19, 2025

Did you know? Many people with Down syndrome are concrete thinkers. Abstract concepts may be more challenging for some individuals with Down syndrome to understand. 

Many (but not all) people with Down syndrome think and behave in concrete ways. This can be very functional. For example, people with Down syndrome often excel at well-defined tasks that can be consistently completed in the same way. 

Conversely, abstract thinking and concepts, such as time, may be more challenging for some people with Down syndrome to understand. For example, many people with Down syndrome can tell what time it is on a clock or watch but they may talk about events that happened many years ago as if they occurred just a few days or weeks ago. 

There is an entire chapter dedicated to concrete thinking and behavior in Mental Wellness in Adults with Down Syndrome by Dennis McGuire, PhD, and Brian Chicoine, MD. A free PDF of the book is available in our Resource Library. Chapter 5 is on concrete thinking and behaving.