Effects Of Exercise Desks On Activity And Reading Skills In Youth With Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Abstract

Physical activity improves cognitive function and academic achievement, although many youth remain sedentary during school. Exercise desks may be advantageous to improving physical activity as it does not require any teacher education and does not jeopardize time spent on academic instruction. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of exercise desks on levels of physical activity and classroom performance in 4th and 7th grade students with neurodevelopmental disorders. METHODS: Thirty-five children (N=13 4th grade; N= 21 7th grade) were monitored with an Actigraph accelerometer (wGT3X-BT) worn on the non-dominant wrist during school hours. Derived variables were time (minutes) in sedentary, light, and moderate intensity using published cut points. Using a repeated measures cross over design, students attended school in two different environments for 8 weeks each: traditional school with chairs and desks and a classroom designed with exercise desks composed of pedaling, a stand and spin, and accordion chairs. Students reading skills were assessed using two curriculum-based measurements: Maze Reading Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency. RESULTS: Weight significantly correlated with time spent in sedentary (r = .43; p<0.001), light (r = .37; p<0.001) and moderate (r = -.46; p<0.001) activity. There was a significant main effect of the activity desks on decreasing sedentary activities with a proportional increase in moderate activity once controlling for weight. A main effect for grade showed that 4th graders participated in significantly less sedentary activity and greater moderate activity compared with 7th graders. Compared to the traditional classroom, the kinesthetic classroom significantly increased reading skills in both grades although there was a trend for a slightly greater increase in 7th graders. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise desks improved reading skills and decreased time spent in sedentary activities in youth with neurodevelopmental disorders. The greater decline in sedentary activity and concomitant increase in physical activity among fourth graders may suggest that older youth are less inclined to use the exercise desks.