SHP researchers from two departments have teamed up to secure a two-year, $431,750 federal grant to develop an innovative mobile app that helps children and teens with Down syndrome build healthier routines at home.

The award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will support Assistant Professor Aaron Dallman, in the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, and Associate Professor Shristi Rawal, in the Department of Clinical and Preventive Nutrition Sciences, in creating and testing a game-based wellness app called ThriveDS, designed specifically for young people with Down syndrome and their caregivers.

Children and adolescents with Down syndrome face higher risks for health challenges such as obesity, nutrition-related conditions, and sleep apnea. These issues not only affect their long-term well-being but can also increase stress for families.

Although mobile health apps are widely used to promote exercise, good nutrition, and better sleep, very few are tailored to the unique needs, abilities, and learning styles of the Down syndrome community.

The ThriveDS project aims to close that gap.

The research team will build a mobile and wearable-supported program that uses interactive games, short educational videos, and personalized prompts based on data from activity trackers. The goal is to make healthy habits fun, accessible, and achievable for children with Down syndrome.

To ensure the app meets community needs, the development process will involve individuals with Down syndrome, parents, nutrition and therapy experts, and other stakeholders. The team will conduct focus groups and interviews to determine which features, topics, and game elements work best. These insights will guide the creation of an early prototype of the app, followed by usability testing with families.

In the second phase, the researchers will launch a three-month beta test with children and teens with Down syndrome. They will track how often families use the app, how easy it is to navigate, and how satisfied users are with its features. Caregivers will also be interviewed to understand what helps—or gets in the way of—using the app in everyday life.

The findings will lay the groundwork for a larger clinical trial to determine whether the ThriveDS app can meaningfully improve physical activity, diet, sleep, and weight outcomes in the Down syndrome community.

The team plans to share its results widely to the Down Syndrome community to help accelerate the development of other health tools for people with Down syndrome, both locally and nationally.