Abstract
Most individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) demonstrate problems in learning and movement coordination. Consequently, they usually have difficulties in activities such as standing, walking, and stair climbing. To monitor the physical impairments of these children, regular gross motor evaluation is crucial. Straight-line level walking is the most frequently used test of their mobility. However, numerous studies have found that unless the children have multiple disabilities, no significant differences can be found between the children with ID and typically-developed children in this test. Stair climbing presents more challenges than level walking because it is associated with numerous physical factors, including lower extremity strength, cardiopulmonary endurance, vision, balance, and fear of falling. Limited ability in those factors is one of the most vital markers for children with ID. In this paper, we propose a sensor-based approach for measuring stair-walking performance, both upstairs and downstairs, for adolescents with ID. Particularly, we address the problem of sensor calibration to ensure measurement accuracy. In total, 62 participants aged 15 to 21 years, namely 32 typically-developed (TD) adolescents, 20 adolescents with ID, and 10 adolescents with multiple disabilities (MD), participated. The experimental results showed that stair-walking is more sensitive than straight-line level walking in capturing gait characteristics for adolescents with ID.
Highlights
Statistics revealed that 2% of the world’s population lives with intellectual disabilities (ID) [1].Most individuals with ID demonstrate problems in learning and motor control [2]
We aim to propose an approach based on 3D accelerometers and gyroscopes for adolescents with ID to measure their stair-walking performance
The results reveal that a significant mean difference existed only between the multiple disabilities (MD) and the typically developed (TD) groups
Summary
Most individuals with ID demonstrate problems in learning and motor control [2]. They usually have difficulties in activities that require movement coordination, such as standing, walking, and stair climbing [3,4,5,6]. Iosa et al (2014) [7] showed that unless adolescents multiple mobility disabilities, such as cognitive oretphysical problems, no that significant the most pivotal have for measuring [3,7,8,9,10,11,12]
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