Playing with cubes: frequency of actions in children with trissomia 21 and typical

Abstract

Introduction: Children with trisomy 21 (T21) present motor challenges that influence object manipulation. Exploring these objects can promote advances in motor and sensory development. Objective: To identify, describe, and compare the frequency of manipulative actions of children with T21 and typically developing children, aged 8 to 10, using cubes of different sizes (large and small) and sensory stimuli (bright, high contrast, and textured). Methods: This is a cross-sectional, observational, quantitative, and comparative study of manipulative actions including 10 children with T21 (9.2 ± 0.91 years) and 10 typical children (9.2 ± 0.91 years). Results: Twenty-two manipulative actions were identified, with the cube most frequently manipulated by children with T21 being the small, high-contrast cube, and among typical children, the small, textured cube. Among the actions performed by children with T21, five were most frequent: pushing the cube away (f = 127), shaking the cube (f = 307), shaking the cube back and forth (f = 211), rotating the cube (n = 322), and throwing the cube upward (f = 170). Typical children performed these actions more frequently (54.28%) and excelled in more complex manipulative behaviors. Conclusion: Children with T21 performed 20 types of manipulative actions and showed a preference for actions close to the body and with the small, high-contrast cube. Typical children performed 21 types of manipulative actions and were more frequent in complex actions with small, tactile cubes.