Abstract
Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are associated with impairments in motor development, attention, and behavior. Physical activity (PA) has been demonstrated to improve these conditions. However, many individuals with ID and ASD are not motivated to persist at performing PA tasks for an extended period of time. Therefore, there is a great need to find forms of PA that could motivate individuals to stay at performing PA. One such form of PA is Drums-Alive, which involves movement, drumming, and music to increase enjoyment motivation. While it is speculated the Drums-Alive could have an effect on motor skills, attention, and behavior, this concept has not been examined in persons with ID and ASD. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of Drums-Alive on motor skills, attention, and behavior for individuals with ID and ASD. Nine adolescents diagnosed with ID or ASD participated in an eight-week Drums-Alive program intervention. Motor skills, attention, and behavior were measured before and after the intervention. Paired-samples t-tests were used, and the statistical significance was established at p ≤ 0.05. The results suggested no significant differences in motor skills, attention, and behavior before and after the Drums-Alive intervention (p > 0.05). Though no statistical significance was found, improvements were observed from the pretest and posttest means, and all participants expressed their enjoyment of participating in the Drum-Alive program. More extended intervention and more participants will be needed in future research.
Highlights
Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in motor and functional skills, which will affect daily life
One such form of Physical activity (PA) is Drums-Alive, which involves movement, drumming, and music to increase enjoyment motivation. While it is speculated the Drums-Alive could have an effect on motor skills, attention, and behavior, this concept has not been examined in persons with ID and ASD
Nine adolescents diagnosed with ID or ASD participated in an eight-week Drums-Alive program intervention
Summary
Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairments in motor and functional skills, which will affect daily life. There is a great need to explore evidence-based practice to improve those skills. ID is defined by impairment of adaptive and intellectual functioning during the development period. ASD is typically characterized by developmental deficits in social skills, communication skills, and accompanying restricted, repetitive behavioral problems (America Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The number of people diagnosed with ID and ASD has increased dramatically. Based on the prevalence rates reported on ASD, one in 68 children were diagnosed with ASD in 2014, but the number increased to one in 54 in 2020 (Baio et al, 2018), and about one percent of the world's population has ASD (Zablotsky et al, 2015)
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