Young children with mental retardation (MR) demonstrate delays in motor development that are 2-4 years behind non-disabled peers on a majority of measures of motor performance (Sherrill, 2003). This finding however, may not be applicable for adolescents with the same conditions. The research is sparse when dealing with adolescents with mental retardation, however it is estimated that motor performance discrepancies will increase with age. This is supported by the developmental skill-learning gap hypothesis, which contends that as children grow older, movement skill will widen. Zhang (2005) conducted a study to analyze, quantitatively, the delay in years of motor skills by adolescents with MR. Early results of this pilot study demonstrated delays in motor development from about 5.6-9.10 years across eight subtests. While this indicates significant alarm for the delay in motor development of these adolescents, the results may be difficult to determine based on the use of a quantitative assessment. Quantitative assessments typically look at the individual's completion of the motor skill and compare the results to time, distance, and other norm referenced criteria. Because there has been such limited research regarding motor competency of individuals with mental retardation, using norms or data derived from groups may not be applicable to individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this pilot study was to qualitatively analyze the delay in years on the development of motor skills by adolescents with mental retardation.Participants were 12 adolescents with mental retardation, ages 11 – 15 years old. These subjects were measured using the Ohio State University SIGMA (Loovis & Ersing, 1979), a criterion-referenced assessment that measures basic locomotor and object – control skills. This assessment is used to assess individuals between the ages of 3 and 14. Preliminary results demonstrated delays in motor development from about 4 to 8 years across the subtests. These results suggest the amount of delay in years for overall motor development by adolescents with mental retardation to be greater than that demonstrated by children with mental retardation. A possible reason for the gap widening, is that it is difficult for adolescent students to participate in age-appropriate physical activities demanding greater motor control as exhibited by non-disabled peers. The gap documented in this study implies that physical educators need to examine the motor needs of adolescent children with mental retardation and find more effective activities to remediate motor problems before, during, and after early elementary school years.