A Comparison of the Effect of Music Activities and Gross Motor Activities on Static Balance Training for Students with Moderate Mental Retardation in Elementary School

• Main Authors: Li Shou-Fen, 李秀芬
• Other Authors: 陳淑瑜
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94091447903644914172

碩士 === 臺北市立教育大學 === 身心障礙教育研究所 === 96 === The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of music activities and gross motor activities. The subjects were three boys, one was nine years old and two were eleven years old, who had diagnosed as moderate mental retardation and had difficulty on static balance. The dependent variable was static balance ability (single-foot stance). The independent variables were music activities and gross motor activities. An alternating treatment design was used to compare the effect of these two strategies. A visual analysis and time series C statistics were used for the results. The major findings were summarized as follows: 1. Gross motor activities could immediately improve the static balance ability for students with moderate mental retardation. 2. Music activities could immediately improve the static balance ability for students with moderate mental retardation. 3. To compare the effect of music activities and gross motor activities, the result indicated that music activities were more effective than gross motor activities on static balance training for students with moderate mental retardation. 4. The subjects maintained the static balance ability after music activities and gross motor activities training. However, the effect of music activities was better than gross motor activities on static balance ability. 5. After the experiment, the subjects knew how to use the skill of balance to maintain their body balance, to do one-foot stance and one-foot jump. The researcher also found that the child with Down’s syndrome who was hypotonic needed to spend more time on training lower extremity muscle, comparing with students with normal muscle tension. The subject who had flat foot could not progress much in short time on static balance ability because of unstable of speed gait and fatigue of lower extremity muscle. Based on the results of this study, suggestions and recommendations for future teaching and research also delineated.