The Effect of Functional Training on the Number of Movement Units of Reaching to Objects with Different Shapes and Sizes in a 6-year-old Girl with Down Syndrome

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of functional training on the number of movement units of acceleration and deceleration phase of reaching to objects with different shapes (cylinder, cube, pyramid) and sizes (small, medium, large) in a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome.The present study is an experimental study following a single participant design.One subject with Down syndrome, who was not suffering from any severe physical or motor disorder, was introduced by the Down Syndrome Association (Gender: female; Age: 6 years old) to participate in the study.The pretest and posttest results of reaching to objects with different shapes and sizes were recorded using motion analysis device. The subject participated in 24 sessions of functional training program, each lasting about 60 minutes (5 days a week). Each session of training consisted of three intervals of 15 minutes interspersed with 5-minute breaks. The mean number of movement units of acceleration phase to reaching the medium cylinder was lower than the others (N = 7.50) and the effect size was higher than the others (E = 0.91). The mean number of movement units of deceleration phase to reaching the medium cylinder was lower than the others (N = 5.83) and the effect size was higher than the others (E = 0.93). The mean number of movement units in posttest showed that the subject had better performance than pretest. The results revealed that the functional training had decreased the number of movement units of acceleration and deceleration phases. These findings support previous findings that task-oriented training with respect to the principle of specificity of training promotes movement patterns in individuals with Down Syndrome.