Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality with Treadmill in Subjects with Rett Syndrome: A Pilot Study.

Background/objectives: Rett syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that can severely affect motor functioning, particularly walking. Previous training programs proposed treadmills as tools to increase walking endurance of patients with Rett syndrome, but these trainings did not include virtual reality (VR). The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a short treadmill training coupled to VR in girls with Rett syndrome.

Repeated Motor Training on Attention Reaching Skills and Stereotypies in Rett Syndrome.

Background: Few studies investigated the effect of a structured and specific training for upper limb motor skills allowing complex movements such as reaching and grasping.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of motor training on attention, reaching skills, and stereotypies in patients with Rett syndrome (RTT).

Methods: Twenty-eight participants with RTT underwent cognitive and motor assessment to evaluate attention, reaching skills and stereotypies with an ABABABA design: before training (pre-test phase), after a month of training (post-test phase 1), after a month of the second training phase (post-test phase 2) and at 1 month after the third training phase (post-test phase 3).

The GAIRS Checklist: a useful global assessment tool in patients with Rett syndrome.

Background: Rett Syndrome is a severe, neurodevelopmental disorder mainly caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene, affecting around 1 in 10,000 female births. Severe physical, language, and social impairments impose a wide range of limitations in the assessment of the abilities of Rett patients. This study proposes an analysis and first validation of a Global Assessment and Intervention in Rett syndrome (GAIRS) Checklist for assessing behavioral, intellectual, academic, neuropsychological and psychosocial manifestations in patients with Rett Syndrome.

Comparing Advanced with Basic Telerehabilitation Technologies for Patients with Rett Syndrome-A Pilot Study on Behavioral Parameters.

The aim of this study is to compare the performances of patients with Rett syndrome that were undergoing advanced telerehabilitation (ATR) and patients that were undergoing basic telerehabilitation (BTR). It was hypothesized that patients that were undergoing ATR training would have better improvement in nearly all the motor and cognitive scale scoring activities that were administered, thus showing reduced disability. A total of 20 young girls and women with a diagnosis of RTT, ranging from age 4 to 31 years old (Median: 12.