부산대학교 도서관

Purpose: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common cause of intellectual disability worldwide and the most common genetic disorder, which generates problems regarding the functionality and independence to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). This study aims at developing a smart mirror environment (SME) to assist in the evaluation of proprioception skills in children with Down syndrome (CwDS) through an automated analysis of corporal movements with RGB-D camera. Methods: The SME is implemented following a clinical protocol to objectively elicit cognitive and proprioceptive skills, in addition to practical needs and requirements raised by psychologists and physical therapists. The system is proposed as a complement to conventional assessments and motor development evaluation, providing support to professionals in generating objective parameters for analysis during physical training and therapy. Results: The results demonstrate the significance of the parameters obtained in the assessment protocol with the virtual immersion generated by the SME, where the proprioception was evaluated and the kinesthetic sense was improved in 29.9%. In the same way, we found an important influence of the intervention with visual feedback, which can help CwDS to develop their skills more efficiently, such as in the body drawings made after using the SME, presenting human body design improvement compared with the drawings made before the interaction. Conclusion: This work enhances the importance of our quantitative assessment, which provides objective parameters of the proprioception progress in CwDS, indicating that they need more stimulation to satisfactorily develop certain body skills.