College of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Biomed Res Int. 2020 Aug 10;2020:2345607. doi: 10.1155/2020/2345607. eCollection 2020.
Health-related physical fitness is vital for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to gain healthier lives. The adapted rhythmic gymnastics (ARG) program was designed for children with IDD and is aimed at testing the effects of the exercise program on children's physical fitness.
Participants were recruited from two special needs schools in Beijing of China. Twenty-two children with IDD were assigned to an ARG experimental group or a traditional control group. The experimental group took part in a 16-week ARG program consisting of three 50 min sessions each week. And children's body composition, aerobic capacity, and musculoskeletal functioning were measured by the Brockport Physical Fitness Test (BPFT) before and after the program.
The between-group analysis revealed great improvements for the experimental group in abdominal strength (curl-up test: = 0.025 < 0.05) and upper limb strength (dumbbell press test: = 0.038 < 0.05). Compared to the pretest, most of the physical fitness parameters improved significantly in the experimental group except BMI, and flexibility of the experimental group children showed a substantial increase.
Most of the physical fitness parameters of children with IDD in the experimental group improved significantly, especially on abdominal strength and upper limb muscle strength when comparing to the control group.
健康相关的体能对于智障和发育障碍（IDD）儿童获得更健康的生活至关重要。改编的韵律体操（ARG）项目专为 IDD 儿童设计，旨在测试该运动项目对儿童体能的影响。
参与者来自中国北京的两所特殊需要学校。22 名 IDD 儿童被分配到 ARG 实验组或传统对照组。实验组参加了为期 16 周的 ARG 项目，每周 3 次，每次 50 分钟。在项目前后，使用布罗克波特体能测试（BPFT）测量儿童的身体成分、有氧能力和运动骨骼功能。
组间分析显示，实验组在腹部力量（仰卧起坐测试： = 0.025 < 0.05）和上肢力量（哑铃推举测试： = 0.038 < 0.05）方面有显著提高。与前测相比，实验组除 BMI 外，大多数体能参数都有显著提高，实验组儿童的柔韧性也有明显提高。
实验组 IDD 儿童的大多数体能参数都有显著提高，尤其是在腹部力量和上肢肌肉力量方面，与对照组相比有显著提高。
