Physically active learning for children with learning disorders attending special-needs schools: A program evaluation

Area of Science:

• Pedagogy
• Special Education
• Child Development

Background:

• Physically Active Learning (PAL) offers potential benefits for children with learning disorders (LD), enhancing both academic performance and physical activity (PA).
• Implementation of PAL in special-needs schools remains under-explored.
• This study addresses the feasibility of PAL in this specific educational setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a PAL program implemented in special-needs schools.
• To assess the teacher's dose delivered and children's dose received.
• To investigate associations between children's characteristics and their dose received.

Main Methods:

• A six-week PAL program was conducted with 37 children from two special-needs schools.
• Teacher's dose delivered was measured by implementation rate and lesson duration.
• Children's dose received was assessed via time-on-task observations and PA monitoring.

Main Results:

• Teacher's dose delivered exceeded 95% implementation, with lessons lasting the intended 12 minutes.
• Children demonstrated over 79% on-task behavior and spent 43% of PAL time in moderate-to-vigorous PA.
• Motor skills correlated positively with on-task behavior, and physical fitness with PA levels.

Conclusions:

• Physically Active Learning (PAL) was successfully implemented in special-needs schools for children with LD.
• Both teacher's dose delivered and children's dose received met program expectations.
• The findings support PAL as an effective intervention in special education settings.