Effect of an Intervention Based on Multisensory Environment for Proprioception Assessment in Children With Down Syndrome: Case Study

Abstract

A Multisensory Environment (MSE) is a tool that can be used to train and stimulate the vestibular and proprioceptive systems of users, and engage them in therapeutic activities through sensors. This manuscript aims to verify the effects of an intervention protocol with MSE through a game platform to train proprioception in children with Down syndrome (CwDS). This pilot study was carried out using a system designed with the specific purpose to evaluate the children’s functional performance through data acquired using a system based on an RGB-D camera arrangement. The children underwent a physiotherapeutic intervention protocol of 12 sessions of game therapy, with 30 minutes duration each and a frequency of one session per week. This protocol was implemented to analyze the movements of three CwDS (mean of nine years old at the beginning of experiments). The CwDS evaluated in this research had an average proprioception score established by a Psychomotor profile test of ( $\text{m}=10.43$ ) before the beginning of the intervention, showing deficient and dyspraxic profiles among the children. After the application of our MSE, the final score of this test showed an average of ( $\text{m}=16.44$ ) indicating a Typical development (TD) profile for all the children.

Keywords

• Serious games
• virtual environment
• children with down syndrome
• RGB-D cameras
• motor development
• assistive devices