Efeitos dos exergames no perfil psicomotor de crianças com síndrome de Down

Abstract

Children with Down syndrome have distinctive features, which can interfere with their whole development. The stimulation, through interventions that contribute positively to their psychomotor factors, is of fundamental importance in the period of development of the child. The use of video games in a not immersive virtual reality mode can help with psychomotor profile through games that stimulate the movement. The present study aims to verify the effect of an intervention with exergames on the psychomotor profile of children with Down syndrome. The study was conducted with five children, in which four of them attended a Special Education Institution and one that attended a group of information in a medium-sized town in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, all of them diagnosed with Down syndrome, aged between 8 and 10. The pre and post test delimitation was used to verify if there was a change in the psychomotor behavior. As instrument of data collection it was applied Vitor da Fonseca's Psychomotor Battery in order to evaluate the children's psychomotor profile. Afterwards, an intervention was carried out with the children for three months, twice a week, using the Xbox 360 Kinect videogame, with games involving movement / sport and dance, covering psychomotor skills worked on the Battery. All collection procedures were filmed. After the intervention the Psychomotor Battery was reapplied with all the children to identify if there were effects of the intervention in the psychomotor profile. The data of the Battery were analyzed according to the psychomotor factors, separately. The scores were calculated according to the Battery protocol and, thus, determining the psychomotor profile. The Excel program was used to verify the effect of the intervention, in the pre and post test, comparing these values. The sessions were analyzed from the filming and images obtained during the interventions. In addition, it was also analyzed the cursive record in which the participant's game scores were scored, as well as the notes regarding their behavior, or any event that deserved attention. The results showed that all participants achieved gains. Participants 1, 2 and 5 had a normal profile in the pre- and post-test, but there were gains in the score, having the initial mark: 14, 15 and 15 and final mark: 17, 17 and 16 respectively. Participants 3 and 4 had a dyspraxic profile in the pre-test and normal profile post-test, with initial mark: 12 and 13 and final mark: 14 and 14 respectively. The psychomotor subfactors that all the participants obtained gains were the Tonicity and Fine Praxis. With that, it can be concluded that the intervention with Xbox videogame provides benefits for the child with Down syndrome, stimulating the psychomotor development of these children.