PhD, Associate Professor V.K. Klimova¹
Dr.Hab., Professor L.N. Voloshina¹
PhD, Associate Professor Ya.V. Strelkova¹
PhD T.A. Mironova^1
1Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod

Keywords: physical fitness, physical development, GTO Complex tests, mental retardations, physical education and sports.

Background. Physical education and sports services for physically and mentally handicapped and otherwise disadvantaged population are given a high priority by the national physical education and sports community [2, 3]. The GTO Complex test system has been expanded to include every disability and functionality class for the last few years. We believe that the GTO Complex test system shall offer tests for the mentally retarded children to facilitate the relevant physical education and sport service with a special emphasis on the group social adaptation and the focused health service to correct their hypo-/ hyperactivity, volitional control disorders, indifference, susceptibility to fatigue etc. The relevant modern national and foreign studies give special attention to the mentally retarded children’s mental and physical health regresses and their correlations – that need to be reversed and corrected by special physical education and sport service models and tools [1, 4, 5]. A special emphasis in the adaptive, compensatory, rehabilitation and motivation domains of the GTO Complex test system for mentally retarded children shall be made on their physical fitness progress tests in trainings for the GTO tests.

Objective of the study was to test fitness of the mentally retarded 11-12 year old boys for the mental-health- and age-specific GTO Complex tests.

Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed, for the purposes of the study, medical records of the 11-12 year old male sample (n=40 including 20 11-year olds and 20 12-year-olds); and rated their physical development harmony (using centile tables) and physical progress by 3 standard and 3 optional tests from the relevant GTO Complex test set; with the test data processed by the standard mathematical statistics toolkit. The experiment with the pre- and post-experimental tests took one academic year and was run at the municipal state Comprehensive School No. 30 in Belgorod.

Results and discussion. The medical records analysis assisted by a certified school health specialist found every individual in the sample diagnosed with Mild Mental Retardation and/or Minimal Cerebral Dysfunction complicated, in some cases, by concomitant pathologies of some body systems. The physical development harmony tests rated 40% of the sample with moderate harmony category and 60% with physical development disharmonies due to the excessive body weights and retarded growth rates. 25% (10 of 40) and 75% (30 of 40) of the sample were qualified with the main and preparatory health groups, respectively. Not a single individual in the sample had medical contraindications for physical trainings.

Given on Figure 1 are the pre- versus post-experimental (September 2018 vs. May 2019) physical fitness test rates of the sample indicative of the physical progress for the school year, with the physical fitness test data benchmarked versus the GTO Bronze Badge test standards.

The pre-experimental tests of the 11-year-old subsample found their physical fitness lower than the GTO Bronze Badge test standards in the endurance, strength and speed-strength tests (see Fig. 1); whilst the post-experimental tests showed significant progress in the flexibility, movement coordination and endurance tests (p<0.05).

Figure 1. 11-year-olds pre- versus post-experimental physical fitness test data

Standard tests: Test 1: 60m sprint (s); Test 2: 1500m race (s); Test 3: pull-ups on a horizontal bar (count); and optional tests: Test 4: floor sitting front lean (cm); Test 5: standing long jump (cm); and Test 6: tennis ball throws on 6m-far target (10 attempts).

The pre-experimental tests of the 12-year-old subsample found their physical fitness close to the GTO Bronze Badge test standards (see Fig. 2); whilst the post-experimental tests showed the statistically significant and highest progress in the flexibility (16% growth), endurance and ball throw tests (8%), i.e. the same physical fitness qualities as for the 11-year-old subsample.

Figure 2. 12-year-olds pre- versus post-experimental physical fitness test data

The pre- versus post-experimental physical fitness test data of the sample rated versus the GTO Class III tests for mentally retarded 11-12 year-olds showed neither of the individuals being fit for the GTO Gold and Silver Badges; and nobody could pass all the GTO Bronze Badge test – only a few of them: see Table 1 hereunder. The sample made the lowest progress in the speed rating 60m sprint and speed-strength rating standing long jump tests; and the highest progresses in the flexibility and coordination tests.

Table 1. Successes in the GTO Bronze Badge tests: post-experimental tests

Note that the 11-years-old subsample succeeded in only 8 GTO Bronze Badge tests, whilst the 12-year-old subsample was more than 3 times more successful – that may be explained by the natural age-specific physical progress close to the upper limit of the GTO Class III tests for mentally retarded 11-12 year-olds.

Conclusion. The study data and analyses demonstrated drawbacks in the national physical education and sport service for the mentally retarded 11-12-year-old boys, in agreement with the other relevant study reports, and underlined the need for special multisided physical education and sport service system for the age group with traditional and extracurricular models. Such models are recommended giving a special priority to the speed and speed-strength training tools and elements with new methods and technologies customizable to the mental and physical health standards and diagnoses of the mentally retarded children. The physical fitness tests and analysis of the age group in transition from the primary to secondary school showed the children being largely unfit for the age-specific GTO Class III tests for mentally retarded groups; and this is the reason why the GTO Complex system should give a special attention to the principle of continuity in its practical applications.

The study was sponsored by an RFRF grant financing under “Integrated studies of growth-specific physical activity cultivated by customizable physical education system” Project

References

1. Vasyanina I.I. Organization and content of health and fitness direction of extracurricular activities in physical education of students with mild mental retardation. PhD diss. abstr. St. Petersburg: Lesgaft NSUPCSH publ., 2016. 24 p.
2. Evseev S.P., Shelehov A.A., Titova A.V. Training of 13-14 year-olds with intellectual disabilities for GTO tests for disabled in the physical education process. Russian physical culture and sports complex "Ready for Labor and Defense" (GTO) for the disabled: theory and practice: collected articles. Proc. II nat. res.-practical conference. St. Petersburg: Lesgaft NSU publ., 2018. pp. 10-12.
3. Evseev SP., Evseeva O.E., Aksenov A.V. Classification of tests, norms and methods for rating physical fitness of disabled people as a prerequisite for scientific substantiation of how to make GTO testing centers accessible for them. Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. 2017. No. 7 (149).  pp. 57-66.
4. Dowling А., McConkey S., Hassan R., David А. Sport, Coaching and Intellectual Disability. Routledge. 2014. 28р.
5. Peer J.W., Hillman S.B. Stress and Resilience for Parents of Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Review of Key Factors and Recommendations for Practitioners. J. Policy Pract. Intellect. Disabil. 2014.Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 92-98.

Corresponding author: klimova@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to test fitness of the mentally retarded 11-12 year old boys for the mental-health- and age-specific GTO Complex tests.

Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed, for the purposes of the study, medical records of the 11-12 year old male sample (n=40 including 20 11-year olds and 20 12-year-olds); and rated their physical development harmony (using centile tables) and physical progress by 3 standard and 3 optional tests from the relevant GTO Complex test set; with the test data processed by the standard mathematical statistics toolkit. The experiment with the pre- and post-experimental tests took one academic year and was run at the municipal state Comprehensive School No. 30 in Belgorod.

Research results and conclusions. The study data and analyses demonstrated drawbacks in the national physical education and sport service for the mentally retarded 11-12-year-old boys, in agreement with the other relevant study reports, and underlined the need for special multisided physical education and sport service system for the age group with traditional and extracurricular models. Such models are recommended giving a special priority to the speed and speed-strength training tools and elements with new methods and technologies customizable to the mental and physical health standards and diagnoses of the mentally retarded children. The physical fitness tests and analysis of the age group in transition from the primary to secondary school showed the children being largely unfit for the age-specific GTO Class III tests for mentally retarded groups; and this is the reason why the GTO Complex system should give a special attention to the principle of continuity in its practical applications.