Effects of early physical therapy on motor development in children with Down syndrome

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to compare the motor development of children with Down syndrome (DS) who received physical therapy (PT) and did not receive PT, and to show the effect of PT programs started before the age of one on movement development. METHODS: The study included aged between 6 and 42 months, 58 children with DS. Children with DS were divided into two groups as receiving PT and non-receiving PT. Children with DS who received PT were further divided into two groups according to the age of starting PT as before and after 1 year of age. Gross motor and fine motor development of the cases were evaluated with Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III. RESULTS: Gross motor scaled scores (GM-SS: 3.88±3.46–1.67±1.23), fine motor scaled scores (FM-SS: 4.29±3.24–1.79±0.93), and composite scores (64.4±19.5–50.38±5.38) of PT group were statistically higher than the non-PT group (p