Aanand M's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: How does independent mastery motivation and socio-emotional development change in children with Down syndrome ages 3-8 after the regular use of adaptive mobility cars?" BASIS Advisor: Amy Anderson Internship Location:   Onsite Mentor: Robin Lea-Amos

Project Abstract

Down syndrome is still one of the least understood genetic intellectual disabilities. Specifically, children with Down syndrome ages 3 and above face numerous complications regarding independent mastery motivation (the psychological force to independently attempt to solve a moderately-challenging problem or master a skill), children with Down syndrome are rated significantly lower on mastery motivation compared to parents of typically-developing children. Consequently, “therapeutic play” is being introduced as a novel method to address such motor and social delays in pediatric populations affected by disability. Within this, the adapted ride-on toy car is developing into a popular method of improving social, motor, and cognitive development. In addition, the car addresses the Down syndrome need for pediatric power mobility devices, which cost thousands of dollars and take years to receive. In fact, this has also been studied amongst children with Down syndrome ages 1-3, demonstrating drastic improvements in social and motor development. However, this study aims to address the absence of research surrounding the effects of ride-on cars on changing independent mastery motivation in children ages 3-8 with Down syndrome, an age range where children are still nurturing vital developmental milestones.