Physical activity (PA) study involving children with Intellectual disability (ID) is limited in Asia therefore warrants further work. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify the contributions of a structured after-school program on selected motor performances of primary school students with intellectual disability.
Method:
This study took on a quasi-experimental pre-post test design with a training group (TG) and control group (CG) comparison. Thirty students with mild ID (18 in the TG and 12 in the CG) from a special school in Hong Kong took part in the study. The age of the students were from 7 to 8 years old (M = 7.39, SD = .50). Twenty two participants were boys (73.3%) and 8 were girls (26.7%). The Movement Assessment Batteries for Children-2 (Age band 2) (Hederson, Sugden, & Barnett, 2007) was used to assess the gross motor skills of aiming and catching, and balance of the participants.
Analysis/Results:
Descriptive statistics showed that there were improvements in post-test mean scores in both aiming and catching (8.5%), and balance (24.7%) in the training group. A one-way between-groups ANCOVA was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the structured after-school PA program on aiming and catching, and balance of the training group as compared to the control group. The results suggested that there was a significant mean difference between training group and control group on the post-test mean score in balance (F (1, 25) = 9.63, p = .005). However, there was no significant mean difference on the aiming and catching (F (1, 25) = .002, p = .966) between the training group and the control group
Conclusions:
The findings of this study suggested that a structured PA program would have positive effects on motor performance for children with ID. Teachers should include physical activities focusing on the development of fundamental and perceptual motor abilities in the school programs.