Investigation of the effects of physical education activities on motor skills and quality of life in children with intellectual disability

Aim: This study was carried out in order to examine whether there is a difference between the quality of life and motor skills of children with intellectual disability who participate in physical education activities and those who do not participate. Method: This study was conducted with a total of 34 children with 16 children in the control group (8 girls, 8 boys) and 18 children in the experimental group (11 boys, 7 girls) using a pre-test, post-test and control group experimental design. A 14-week "Physical Education Activities Program" was applied to the children in the experimental group. Children in the control group did not participate in physical education activities. The Bruininks Oseretsky test of motor proficiency second edition brief form 2010 to measure the motor performance and "Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL)" developed by Varni et al. in 1999 were used for children with intellectual disability. Findings: When the motor skill tests of the children with intellectual disability in the experimental group were evaluated, significant improvements were found in fine motor precision, fine motor integration, manual dexterity, bilateral coordination, balance, speed and agility, upper limb coordination, strength tests and all dimension scores for quality of life compared to the pre-test (p < 0.05). In the control group, a statistically significant improvement was observed in the quality of life Physical Functioning score and fine motor integration, bilateral coordination, and upper limb coordination tests (p < 0.05). More significant improvement was observed in motor skills and quality of life in children with intellectual disability who participated in the 14-week physical education program compared to the control group. Conclusion: Physical education activities contributed positively to improving the motor skills and quality of life of children with intellectual disability.