Structured Program for Developing the Psychomotor Skills of Institutionalized Children with Special Educational Needs

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Neuroscience
• Special Education

Background:

• Tailored motor activities are effective for children with special educational needs.
• Psychomotor development is crucial for overall child development and learning.
• Existing programs may not address all aspects of psychomotor skills comprehensively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a structured program to enhance psychomotor abilities, focusing on balance and motor-cognitive skills.
• To assess the program's impact on movement speed, stimulus identification, processing time, and balance.
• To investigate the efficacy of a specialized motor program for students aged 12-14 with special educational requirements.

Main Methods:

• A 36-week program with biweekly 30-minute sessions was implemented.
• Participants included 28 students (aged 12-14) from two Romanian institutional centers.
• Psychomotor skills were assessed using balance tests, movement speed, and upper limb motor laterality, with statistical analysis via Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Wilcoxon Z tests.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in movement speed (p < 0.05), with increased stimulus identification and reduced processing time.
• No significant changes were found in dynamic balance (open-eyed: ~0.9, closed-eyed: ~0.88, p > 0.05).
• A marginal decline in processing speed (pulses per second) was noted (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• The structured motor program effectively enhanced specific psychomotor skills like movement speed and cognitive-motor processing.
• The program's impact on dynamic balance was not statistically significant.
• Further research is needed to optimize programs for comprehensive psychomotor development in special education settings.