Perceptual Motor Deficits in Children with Down Syndrome

Perceptual Motor Deficits in Children with Down Syndrome Gretchen Debner 2/11/2016

The Study Determine if kids with Down Syndrome can discriminate between different human movements, object movement, typical versus atypical gait & human emotions Participants: 12 kids with Down Syndrome, ages 8 -15, adaptive age 3 -7 (Scales of Independent Behaviorrevised) 3 experiments

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Findings Experiment 1: § Participants w/ Down Syndrome - average score of 6 § Participants w/o Down Syndrome – average score of 7. 5 § Participants with Down Syndrome can discriminate between human motions and motions of inanimate objects Experiment 2: § Participants w/ Down Syndrome scored 81%, 95%, 63% and 90% for mad, happy, sad and scared, respectively § Participants w/o Down Syndrome scored 100%, 91% and 100% § Poor visual perception of emotional stress in others Experiment 3: § Participants w/Down Syndrome- average score of 4. 8 § Participants w/o Down Syndrome – average score of 6. 3

How it Effects my Future Profession Visual perception of human action helps enable people to have social interactions Students with Down Syndrome may struggle with perception of different actions or movements May struggle with understanding emotional cues Start working on perceptual motor development at an early age

References Virji-Babul, N. , Kerns, K. , Zhou, E. , Kapur, A. , & Shiffrar, M. (2006). Perceptual – motor deficits in children with down syndrome: implications for intervention. Down Syndrome Research and Practice, 10(2), 74 -82.