Ozcaliskan, Seyda PHD

Congenital heart defects occur in almost one half of infants with Down syndrome and result in further delays and weaknesses in motor, cognitive, and language development. This project aims to apply mobile technology and computer vision to compare the developmental trajectory of independent sitting, rhythmic arm movement, and canonical babbling and investigate the interrelations between sitting/arm movement and babbling in infants with Down syndrome with and without congenital heart defects. We hypothesize that infants with Down syndrome and congenital heart defects will show a delayed acquisition of sitting, arm movement, and babbling and weaker interrelations between them compared to infants with Down syndrome without congenital heart defects.

Infants with Down syndrome show significant lower physical activity and poorer sleep quality compared to typically developing infants. This one-year administrative supplement project aims to (a) investigate the effect of GM and GM+FM interventions on physical activity and sleep pattern in infants with DS, and (b) recruit and supervise two underrepresented graduate students to provide them with research training and establish a mini- career training program for them. This supplement project will support and implement the NIH UNITE and NICHD STRIVE initiatives by diversifying the biomedical workforce.