The Effect of a Psychomotor Education Program on the Static Balance of Children With Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Children with intellectual disability (ID) demonstrate lower balance ability which results in substantial delays in motor growth and limits their function level. Psychomotor education comprises a holistic movement approach, with the aim to improve all aspects of each child personality. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a psychomotor education program on static balance of school-aged children with ID. Twenty children with ID who were 8-12 years old participated in the study. They were assigned to 2 groups, 1 experiment and 1 control. The experiment group attended a 16-week psychomotor education program at a frequency of 2 lessons per week, for 45 minutes. All the children who participated in the above measurements had (a) recording of anthropometric characteristics, (b) assessment of motor developmental index, and (c) measurement of static balance. The static balance ability was measured by means of an electronic pressure platform. Each child was requested to keep a quiet stance posture under 4 different conditions: double-leg stance with eyes opened or closed while they observed a visual or visual-auditory target. Participants of the intervention group reduced the values of static balance variables for all the positions. In conclusion, findings of this study clearly indicate that psychomotor education program has an important contribution to make for the most benefit of children with ID in terms of static balance.

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