THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY STIMULATION IN CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Abstract

Down syndrome (DS) is an autosomal genetic disorder that affects chromosome 21, responsible for physical, motor, emotional, psychological, cognitive and social changes that are quite common in patients with DS. Some of these characteristics must be worked out specifically by the Physiotherapy professional even in the first months of the patient's life. Early stimulation in DS patients can be explained by brain neuroplasticity and the ability to alter motor development patterns in a timely manner in order to readjust structures damaged by genetic dysfunction before SN consolidates. It is necessary to study about possible treatments and their results, evaluate and discuss the effectiveness of these methods and their best applicability in the treatment of DS. In general, studies have shown that early stimulation performed by physical therapists has good results in the overall development of children with Down Syndrome. For this, several virtual databases and the collection of the Physical Library of UNIPAC by Teófilo Otoni were used, in order to define which works would be used in the theoretical framework of this Bibliographic Review.