The effect of perceptual motor exercises on perceptual motor function and drawing skills of children with Down's syndrome

Background: Down's syndrome is one of the most common genetic disorders characterized by generalized muscular hypotonia and deficits in motor skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of perceptual motor exercises on perceptual motor function and drawing skills of children with Down's syndrome. Materials and Methods: This clinical trial was conducted using an available sample based on single-system design (AB design). The participants in this study were evaluated twice a week in the baseline phase. After core stability assessment, they were trained with perceptual motor exercise in the treatment phase for 1.5 months every 3 sessions per week for 60 minutes. To investigate the changes in baseline and treatment phases, the C statistic and Bayesian analysis were used. Results: The obtained results revealed that perceptual motor exercises had a moderate to strong effect on perceptual motor function in only one of the participants and had a weak effect on drawing skills in two of the participants, very strong effect in two of the participants and moderate effect in one of the participant and also these exercises had a very strong effect on visual motor coordination in four participants and strong to very strong effect in one of them.Conclusion: The findings show that perceptual motor exercises can be an effective intervention to improve visual-motor coordination and subsequently drawing skills in children with Down's syndrome.