The effect of eight weeks playing therapy program on balance in 10-12 years old mentally retarded children

There are a large group of children and adults in our community with certain aspects of mental, physical, emotional or behavioral characteristics that differ from other peers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of eight weeks playing therapy program on balance of mentally retarded children.
In this semi- experimental search, thirty mentally retarded children were selected and randomly divided into two groups; training group (N=15 with mean average age of 12.06±2.8 years, height 145±1.33cm, weight 42.33±1.38 kg) and control group (N=15 with mean average 12.26±2.8 years old, height 144±9.8 cm, weight 43/66±1/31 kg). The Biodex Balance System (BBS) was used to evaluate balance in pre and posttests. The experimental group performed playing therapy for eight weeks (three sessions per week). However control group did not perform any strength and balance exercises. Independent and dependent T tests were used to analyze the data. All statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS statistical software version16 and significance level was set at 0.05.
There were significant differences in balance between pre and post tests in experimental group and also between experimental and control groups.
It may be suggested that playing therapy program that presented in this study is an effective method to improve balance in the mentally retarded Children.