Effects of sensorimotor training on intellectual and adaptive skills of profoundly retarded adults

Effects of sensorimotor training on intelligence and adaptive skills of profoundly retarded young adult residents of a state institution were investigated during a 6-month intensive training program. Comparison of pre- and posttraining test scores showed that the training group made significant gains in awareness (p less than .01) and gross-motor skills (p less than .001) as well as in intellectual (p less than .02) and adaptive skills (p less than .01). No significant gains in fine-motor and imitation skills were found nor were significant changes observed in the attention (control) group. Results were interpreted in terms of sensorimotor-training integration patterns, and they substantiated previous findings that gross-motor functioning and adaptive skills improve with sensorimotor training done in the living unit.