Abstract:

Introduction:
Practice-dependent performance gains can be expressed after a post-training interval (delayed, consolidation-phase, gains) in young adults when learning procedural skills that involve finger-opposition that is similar to self-feeding finger-food movements.
Self-feeding of finger-food among toddlers is a significant functional developmental skill that contributes to the development of sensory-motor, cognitive, and emotional abilities. Among toddlers with developmental delays, there may be activity limitation involved in eating due to impairments in body functions or body structures, which, according to the ICF model, result in participation restriction.
In early intervention, eating is a significant part of the day’s curriculum; more than an hour is spent on eating.
We tested whether a post-training memory consolidation phase occurs in toddlers with developmental delays in a self-feeding task .

Methods:
23 participants, 2-3-year-olds toddlers with developmental delays, took part in the experiment. In the first session each participant underwent training consisting of 12 repetitions of eating a bite-size “snake” after taking it out of a small cup using a pincer-grasp. In the second session (24-hours post-training) participants were tested in 4 successive repetitions identical to the first session.

Results:
There were significant within-session gains in the trained task, but also significant delayed gains, without additional practice, which were expressed by performance at 24-hours post-training. The delayed gains constituted shortened performance times with no speed-accuracy trade-off.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate the existence of an effective consolidation phase in the training. This can be used to assist in building an intervention-plan designed for toddlers with developmental delays.

Keywords:

Memory, Consolidation, Developmental delays.