A Study of Physical Education Participation and Physical Fitness Development in Trainable and Educable Mentally Retarded Children

Abstract

The problem in this study was to evaluate the frequency of physical education participation on the muscle fitness and organic fitness level of trainable and educable mentally retarded children. Subproblems included a more specific study of: (1) physical education programs taught by certified physical educators and/or student teachers, (2) an integrated physical education program, and (3) a special education school with no formal physical education instruction. For one-group pretest-posttest research design method was used for gathering data. Subjects, from special education schools at Elk Creek and Squaw Creek, Wisconsin, and from special education classes in the La Crosse, Wisconsin Public School District, were pre- and posttested with the "Fait Physical Fitness Test for the Mentally Retarded". A 27 week time duration elapsed between pretest and posttest. The researcher had no influence on the subject's physical education programs. The data collected were statistically treated with the Student's t test for measurement of within group differences. No significant differences where found in any group in muscle fitness or organic fitness.