Improving Physical Fitness of Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities through an Adapted Rhythmic Gymnastics Program in China

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: The between-group analysis revealed great improvements for the experimental group in abdominal strength (curl-up test: p = 0.025 < 0.05) and upper limb strength (dumbbell press test: p = 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.