Feasibility of Care Toy Early Intervention in infants with Down Syndrome

Background. CareToy (CT) System has been recently developed and validated in preterm infants with positive effects at short-term both on visual and motor development. Objective. We aimed to assess the feasibility of CT training in infants with Down Syndrome (DS) and to evaluate the effects of the CT training in promoting their neurodevelopment. Methods. 10 infants with DS aged 6.16 ± 1.54 months were recruited and allocated in two groups: CareToy (CT) or Standard Care (SC). 5 infants of the CT group performed CT Intervention in the clinical setting for 5 weeks; other 5 infants were followed as SC for the same period. Data about the feasibility of the intervention were collected. Moreover, all recruited infants performed motor and visual assessment at baseline (T0) and in the week after the CT or SC periods (T1; 5 weeks after T0). Results. All infants allocated in the CT group performed the CT training with good compliance. In all outcome measures the mean delta changes (T1-T0) showed promising positive effects of the training in the CT group, compared to SC. Conclusions. CT demonstrated its feasibility for providing EI also in infants with DS and its effects seems promising. However, further large RCT studies are needed.