Effects of Brailletonik Exercise On Perceptual-Motor Abilities in Educable Intellectually Disabled Children

Approximately 1%–2% of all countries' population consists of individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (IDs); their main characteristic is defects in mental abilities. Compared to the healthy population, children with IDs are slow, lethargic, and aimless compared to the healthy population. Rehabilitation specialists believe that perceptual–motor training, including Brailletonik Exercise (BE), is appropriate and effective for developing essential motor skills and treating these disorders. BE is a new practice that individuals can practice individually or in groups at any time and place. BE is based on the coded letters of different languages and alphabets. Besides, it is inspired by the international "Braille" script. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of BE training on perceptual–motor abilities in educable children with IDs.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest and a control group design. The study sample was selected from Omid special needs primary schools in Aran and Bidgol City, Iran. Thirty educable male students with IDs aged 7 to 10 years (mean±SD age: 8.37±1.19 y) were enrolled in the study. The inclusion criteria included right–handedness, the unfamiliarity of the subjects with criterion skills, no physical problems, no hyperactivity, no audiovisual disorders, no speech disorders, no use of medications, and no history of brain surgery. Furthermore, these children's ID was not secondary to such clinical conditions as hydrocephaly, microcephaly, and macrocephaly. Then, these individuals were randomly divided into two homogeneous groups matched for chronological age, height, and weight (n=15/group). Lincoln Ozeretsly Test (LOT) was used to evaluate perceptual–motor skills at the pretest stage (Sloan, 1950) in both study groups. In the practice phase, for better control, the experimental group was composed of 15 subjects set in 3 groups. They were called to the training ground and practiced 3 sessions weekly for 8 weeks. Each session started with a 5–minute warm–up, including stretching, kinetic, and jumping movements. Then, BEs were performed for 50 minutes. The control group received no intervention. At the posttest, immediately one day after the last training session, all study subjects were evaluated by LOT. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and Independent Samples t–test, Shapiro–Wilk test, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS.

The obtained results revealed no significant difference between the study groups in the pretest; however, the experimental group performed significantly better than the controls in the posttest, suggesting that BE significantly changed the static balance, dynamic balance, coordination, strength, speed of finger movement, and accuracy in the experimental group (p<0.001).

A BE program can improve the perceptual–motor abilities of children with IDs.