A Study on Gross Motor Ability of Down Syndrome Children by Using Role Playing Activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study were to investigate gross motor ability of down syndrome children by using role playing activities and to compare gross motor ability of down syndrome children before and after using role playing activities. The subjects of this experimental research were 3 children with mental retardation in down syndrome group, aged 5-10 years, who had no other handicapping conditions. These students, enrolled in the preparatory level of Chanthaburi Special Education Center, were selected using purposive sampling. The experiment periods were 4 weeks, 5 sessions a week, 30 minutes per session, at 3p.m-3.30p.m., with a total of 20 sessions. The instruments used in the study were the role playing lesson plans including the posture of rabbit, horse, lizard, grasshopper, bear, and spider and the gross motor ability evaluation form. The statistics used for analyzing the data were mean, standard deviation and Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Ranks Test. The results showed that 1) the gross motor ability of children with mental retardation in down syndrome group were good level after using role playing activities  2) the gross motor ability of children with mental retardation in down syndrome group after using role playing activities are significantly higher than before at .05 level.