Background: Locomotor and object control skills are considered essential skills for children to learn due to their potential impact in aiding in future healthenhancing physical activity. Evidence indicates that out-of-school time programs (OST) can provide meaningful movement opportunities for children. It has been found that leaders of OST…

Background: A well-developed proprioceptive system is essential for motor control, muscle tone and voluntary movements. Sound proprioceptive development of young children can positively influence their motor abilities, while adequate movement abilities consequently form a strong foundation for young children entering the formal school setting.…

Background: Athletes with intellectual disability represent a unique population who experiences the contrasting effects of cognitive deficits and benefits of sports on balance. This study investigated the combined impact of intellectual disability and sport practice on balance. Method: Center-of-pressure excursion in bipedal stance of 2 disability…

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of the game-based training program on fundamental movement skills (FMS) and working memory (WM) in male children with Down syndrome. Twenty-one children ages 9 to 11 years were assigned to either a Game-Based Training (GBT) or No-Training (NT) group. The GBT group participated in 12 sessions…

Motor performance has been shown to be superior when focusing on a physically farther environmental cue (external focus-far, EF-far) instead of a cue proximal to the body (EF-near). However, little is known about whether these foci affect bimanual tasks. Further, the effect of visual information on attentional focus is unclear. In the present…

Autism spectrum disorders and developmental coordination disorders are both associated with sensorimotor impairments, yet their nature and specificity remain unknown. In order to clearly distinguish the specificity between the two disorders, children with autism spectrum disorder or developmental coordination disorder presenting the same degree of…

This longitudinal study examined early predictors of language development in 74 young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Taiwan. Participants were assessed twice (initial age between 17 and 35 months) on responding to joint attention (RJA), initiating joint attention (IJA), motor imitation with objects (object imitation; OI) and…

Assessment in physical education (PE) is wrought with challenges ranging from time, cost and feasibility to validity, reliability and efficacy. This article describes the throw-catch assessment as just one example that may ease some of the burdens PE teachers face when assessing students' motor competence.

Generalization is central to motor learning. However, few studies are on the learning generalization of BCI-actuated supernumerary robotic finger (BCI-SRF) for human-machine interaction training, and no studies have explored its longitudinal neuroplasticity mechanisms. Here, 20 healthy right-handed participants were recruited and randomly assigned…

Background: Chewing difficulty, poor oral health, inadequate and imbalanced nutrition are serious health problems in individuals with intellectual disabilities. The participants' chewing abilities, oral health and nutritional status were analysed in this study. Methods: Forty-five adult participants with intellectual disabilities were included.…

Purpose: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the ability to adjust grip strength by comparing the characteristics of force generation and relaxation from childhood to adulthood. Method: This study included 225 participants aged 6, 11, 17, and 19-23 years (adults) who performed isometric hand-grip force as follows: maximum, half…

Healthy aging is associated with changes in motor sequence learning, with some studies indicating decline in motor skill learning in older age. Acute cardiorespiratory exercise has emerged as a potential intervention to improve motor learning, however research in healthy older adults is limited. The current study investigated the impact of…

Our nervous system has the remarkable ability to adapt our gait to accommodate changes in our body or surroundings. However, our adapted walking patterns often generalize only partially (or not at all) between different contexts. Here, we sought to understand how the nervous system generalizes adapted gait patterns from one context to another.…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of core exercises on the technical skills of female futsal players. Thirty-two female futsal players participated in the study, 16 from the experimental group with an average age of 20.00±2.75 (years), an average height of 160.62±5.37 (cm) and a body weight of 49.62±8.98 (kg) and 16…

Background: People with Down syndrome often present with balance deficits, which compromise safety during daily activity. While evidence shows that exercise can improve balance in the Down syndrome population, it is unclear if a telehealth method will elicit similar benefits. We aimed to examine the effects of a virtual exercise program on balance…