Children age 4 to 6 years from special education (n = 26), Head Start (n = 35), and typical preschool classes (n = 11) were assigned to a physical activity intervention or a language-enriched physical activity intervention. Language and motor skill performances were measured before, immediately following, and 3 months following the 24-session, 8-week intervention. Results illustrated that language instruction can be added to physical education lessons without requiring additional instructional time and, more importantly, without compromising improvement in motor skill performance. Further, preschool children exposed to language-enriched physical education improved their language skills regardless of whether their educational progress was characterized by a cognitive and/or language delay. Thus, physical activity appears to be an effective environment in which to enhance the cognitive development of preschool children of all abilities.

Physical education and sport participation of 133 children and youth with myelomeningocele (MM), aged 7 to 16 years, was investigated with respect to age, level of MM, and ambulation. Results showed that 90.2% of subjects received physical education. Elementary-aged subjects were least likely to be excluded from physical education, as were full-time manual wheelchair users. Regular physical education placements were afforded to 51.7% of subjects, although individuals may have been placed according to their MM label rather than their ambulation ability. Sport participation was reported by 82.6% of subjects. Subjects with cervical MM, and those not receiving physical education, were least likely to have participated. Interestingly, children who walked without assistive devices were least likely to participate in nonschool sports. However, 9.2% of subjects, including almost 20% of the subjects with sacral MM, felt they could benefit from use of a wheelchair in the future, or from use of a wheelchair for sport.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of the Target Aerobic Movement Test (TAMT)1 in a group of children and adolescents with spina bifida (n = 32). Thirty-two children (11 subjects-thoracic lesion, 21 subjects-lumbar lesion) volunteered for the study. Results indicated there were no significant differences in the proportion of subjects who passed Test 1 or Test 2 (p > .05). Twenty-seven out of 28 eligible subjects (96%) on Test 1 and 25 of 27 eligible subjects (93%) on Test 2 met the criteria for successful completion of the TAMT. The TAMT appears to be a reliable and feasible test for measuring aerobic behavior in children and adolescents with spina bifida. Future research should focus on studying the feasibility of the TAMT with other populations with disabilities and to also determine if the test can become a more refined discriminator of aerobic behavior and aerobic capacity.