The control of manual skills in children with Down syndrome

Abstract

It is widely accepted that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) experience difficulty performing motor skills. The impact of these performance difficulties is widespread, affecting achievement in academic settings in tasks such as writing and using a keyboard, and compromising efficiency in employment and recreational opportunities. One of the strong motivations for our program of research on motor behavior in children with DS is the maximization of participation of individuals in school, home, and community life. Our work has been concerned with everyday manipulative skills and their adaptive performance under different contextual conditions, which, arguably, are critical for achieving independence and full participation in all aspects of life. This work has explored the fundamental nature of movement difficulties in DS within the framework of a Coordinated Control Program for reach-to-grasp actions (Arbib, 1981; Hoff & Arbib, 1993) and has been guided by current research describing the kinematic characteristics and neurological correlates of upper-limb control in prehension (Jeannerod, 1981, 1984, 1997; Jeannerod & Rosetti, 1993). Later in this chapter we introduce the model of coordinated control for reaching and grasping and describe its application to the study of motor difficulties in DS. First, we provide a brief overview of development across a number of domains, highlighting the nature of the developmental path, areas of atypicality, and the influence of multiple constraints on motor performance in individuals with DS