Using Antecedent Physical Activity to Increase On-Task Behavior in Young Children

Abstract

A withdrawal design was used to investigate how physical activity affects on-task behavior of young children with significant developmental delays in a special education preschool classroom. Five preschool age children with significant developmental delays engaged in either physical activity or seated center activities for 20 min prior to a 15-min teacher-directed group activity. Momentary time sampling was used to calculate the percentage of intervals the participants were on-task using 15-s intervals. Results indicated all of the participants’ on-task behavior was higher during the physical activity condition. These findings suggest physical activity may be used as a proactive behavioral intervention to improve the on-task behavior of young children with significant developmental delays during teacher-directed group activities.

Participation in sport and physical activity in adults with intellectual disabilities

“…2006; Luke et al . 2014), moderate to vigorous physical activity is performed at lower rates (Whitt‐Glover et al . 2006; Oates et al .…”

A classroom-based physical activity intervention for adolescents: Is there an effect on self-efficacy, physical activity, and on-task behavior?

“…Moreover, using pedal desks as physical activity breaks may be more beneficial for impacting on-task behavior than having the pedal desks be an option to use while simultaneously completing the classroom curriculum. Most research on physical activity in the classroom has focused on the use of PA as an isolated activity (Glapa et al, 2018;Luke, Vail, & Ayres, 2014;Mahar, 2011) or has integrated it into the curriculum itself (Fedewa, Fettrow, Erwin, & Ahn, in press;Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011;Goh, Hannon, Webster, Podlog, & Newton, 2016;Kibbe et al, 2011), not provided it as a secondary option while completing academic tasks. In either case, the classroom curriculum is a factor to consider when using pedal desks in the classroom, as the required task could be coded and accounted for as another variable in the relationship between activity and on-task behavior.…”

The Effect of Covert Audio Coaching on the Attending Behavior of Elementary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Classroom Setting

“…Results of this study showed that engagement in physical activity prior to a teacher-led group activity resulted in higher on-task behavior than engaging in seatwork prior to the activity. These results suggest that physical activity can be a useful proactive measure to increase the likelihood of on-task behavior of children with developmental delays in a classroom setting (Luke et al, 2014).…”

“…Researchers at the University of Georgia were also interested in how to increase the on-task behavior of children with disabilities in the classroom setting. They examined how physical activity affected the on-task behavior of five children with significant developmental delays in a special education preschool classroom (Luke, Vail, & Ayres, 2014). The researchers noted that the concept of on-task behavior is defined in the literature in different ways, such as attention to task, academic engagement, and learning related social skills, but for the purpose of this study, on-task behavior was defined as: (a) looking at teacher, (b) keeping hands to self, and (c) singing or imitating movements to songs or poems (Luke et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition to production during class time, specific classroom skills that are similar by definition like attending to teacher (Koegel & Rincover, 1974), active engagement (Dunlap & Johnson, 1985), and attending to task (Luke et al, 2014) have been examined. Positive reinforcement (Hall et al, 1968), one-on-one attention (Koegel & Rincover, 1974), and self-monitoring checklists (Holifield et al, 2010) are some of the ways in which these classroom skills of children with ASD have been addressed.…”