ANN ARBOR, MI - It’s one of the most critical milestones of childhood—a baby’s first steps. But for children born with Down syndrome, those precious steps come almost a year later than they do for children born without the developmental delays associated with the disorder.

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Now, researchers at the University of Michigan’s Division of Kinesiology are developing a unique mobility study that is helping children with Down syndrome walk with more stability at an earlier age.

With the same technology frequently used to study Olympic-caliber athletes, researchers are able to examine different problems in a child’s movement. Parents and researchers help the children walk on baby-size treadmills, while light-reflecting markers attached to major joints measure movement. This allows researchers to analyze the different factors delaying the children’s mobility.

U-M researchers are using this technology to study early intervention programs, which appear to be helping children with Down syndrome walk earlier and better, with more coordination and control.

“In our first study, we found that with regular early intervention on the treadmill, the children are walking at least three to four months earlier,” says Dale Ulrich, Ph.D., U-M professor of kinesiology. “They are also walking better because their feet are not toeing-out as much and they are taking longer steps, which suggest that they have better balance as well.”

Children with Down syndrome fight against many different factors in their quest to walk. The children frequently have extra flexibility in their joints, causing problems with controlling and coordinating excess movement. Also, their muscles are usually not as toned because of the different properties in the muscle.

The mobility study involves parents holding their child under the arms and positioning their feet correctly on a small-scale treadmill to help the child simulate walking for eight minutes a day, five days a week, beginning when the child can sit without help.

Laurie Whell’s daughter, Megan, is one of 350,000 people in the United States born with Down syndrome. Whell felt powerless to improve her daughter’s progress until they enrolled in the study to increase Megan’s muscle strength and muscle control.

“It’s so exciting, because you feel like you can do something; that, as a parent, you can make a difference. It is so scary to have that helpless feeling initially, when you have a child with special needs. But the treadmill study provides you with a tool to physically and emotionally help your child progress and develop,” says Whell.

Researchers are beginning to manipulate the procedures to measure additional progress. Ankle weights specially designed for a child based on his or her overall weight have been added, along with an increase in speed and duration to aide in further development.

“During the training, Meg faces me while I sit on a stool. Initially, I would sing to her and do whatever else just to keep her on the treadmill for eight minutes,” says Whell. “Now we have increased all the way up to 12 minutes. The treadmill study seemed to help her make the connection of moving her feet, one in front of the other, to get places and to explore things.”

With earlier walking comes more opportunity to improve social development as well.

“Mobility in general, whether it is creeping on their hands and knees or upright walking, affords the child opportunities to interact with their environment,” explains Ulrich. “They can walk over and interact with their brother or sister. They can pester the dog. They can interact socially and cognitively. They learn much more about objects in their environment, while also enhancing their motor skills. Mobility, especially walking, is a very critical factor in helping development in other key areas.”

For additional information on the U-M Division of Kinesiology mobility study, visit the following Web site:

• U-M Center for Motor Behavior in Down syndrome
  http://www.kines.umich.edu/research/research.htm

Facts about Down syndrome

• Down syndrome affects 350,000 people in the United States, occurring in one out of 800 births.
  
• It is the most frequent genetic cause of mild to moderate mental retardation and associated medical problems.
  
• Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by an error in cell division that results in the presence of an additional third chromosome 21, or “trisomy 21.”
  
• The likelihood that a woman under 30 who becomes pregnant will have a baby with Down syndrome is less than 1 in 1,000. The chance increases to 1 in 400 at age 35, 1 in 60 at age 42 and 1 in 12 at age 49.

For additional information on Down syndrome, visit the following Web sites:

U-M Health Topics A-Z: Down Syndrome
www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_downsynd_hhg.htm

U-M Health Topics A-Z: Down Syndrome Resource List
www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_bldownsy_pep.htm

National Down Syndrome Society
www.ndss.org/

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
www.nichcy.org/

March of Dimes
www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/791_1665.asp

Written by Erin Block

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