The Effect of two methods of motor practice and computer games on motor skills in children with Down syndrome disorder

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two methods of motor practice and computer games on motor skills in children with Down syndrome disorder. For this purpose, 30 students who were studying in exceptional schools in Mazandaran were selected with available sampling method. After homogenizing the scores in the pretest, participants were divided into three groups of 10 people including two experimental groups (motor practice and computer game groups) and one control group. Experimental groups participated in selective games for 8 weeks, three 45-minute sessions a week. The control group did not received any treatment and lived their daily life. At the end of the training interventions, a post-test was conducted. Bruininks Oseretsky test was selected to evaluate motor activity. Dependent t-test, Covariance analysis and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for data analysis at P0.5 level. The results showed that there is a significant difference between computer games and control groups as well as the training program and control group (P =0.013 and P= 0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant difference between the groups of computer games and the training program (P = 0.479). Therefore, it seems that despite some ideas that make computer games ineffective in improving motor development, its proper use is to improve the motor development of children with Down syndrome; also training program can also perform important role in improving their motor skills.