Quel choix d’activités physiques et sportives dans une perspective d’apprentissage pour des jeunes ayant des troubles cognitifs ou des troubles psychiques ?

Abstract

Social integration and/or inclusive education through sports of people with disabilities or of pupils with special education needs are at the same time encouraged by the law and often questioned, but only a few scientific studies have measured their impact. More precisely, the physical learning processes of children with cognitive disabilities or mental disorders are often confined to rehabilitation-type activities. And yet, these children can also acquire skills by practicing mainstream physical activities. A field experiment, conducted in a specialized institution (day-care hospital and medico-pedagogical day school) during 2 years with two groups of 59 youngsters eight to 15 (15 girls and 44 boys), shows the relevance of physical activities and associated social skills. The aim was to measure the impact of learning cycles in swimming, climbing and basketball on their physical and linguistic abilities and their relations to others. Results show that according to their internal logic features, some physical activities are more adapted to the emergence of new physical and social behaviours depending on the nature of the impairments. However, the positive changes observed tend to fade when these youngsters go back to their foster groups in the institution.