Correlates of physical activity in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review.
Motor-skill building is the only reliable lever for raising everyday physical activity in kids with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hamama et al. (2021) looked at 15 studies on kids and teens with intellectual disability. They wanted to know what personal or environmental things go hand-in-hand with higher physical activity.
The team pulled every paper that measured both activity levels and possible predictors like motor skills, family support, or equipment at home.
What they found
Only one factor showed up again and again: better motor skills meant more movement.
Other guesses—age, gender, parent income, even attitude—were too mixed to trust.
How this fits with other research
Bartlo et al. (2011) found strong, positive results when adults with ID exercised: better balance, strength, and quality of life. That sounds opposite to the “only motor skills matter” claim for kids. The gap is developmental—adult studies test full exercise programs, while the child work only tracks everyday play.
Hinckson et al. (2013) warned we still lack a gold-standard activity monitor for this population. Hamama et al. (2021) echo that caution; shaky measurement may explain why most predictors look inconclusive.
Yuan et al. (2022) showed Chinese kids with ID averaged only 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per day during lockdown. This real-world low point extends the review’s message: without solid motor skills, activity drops even further when routines break.
Why it matters
Start every session with motor-skill warm-ups—throwing, balancing, kicking—because that is the one doorway to lifelong movement for this group. While you teach, keep measuring with simple counts (steps, timed shuttle runs) until better tools arrive.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next session with a 5-minute obstacle course that practices balance and ball catch, then graph total steps for the day.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) participate in low levels of physical activity. To inform the development of interventions, we need to better understand factors associated with physical activity. The aim of this study was therefore to systematically review correlates of physical activity in children and adolescents with ID. METHODS: The review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Web of Science, ERIC, CINAHL and PsycINFO were searched between 1 January 1990 and 29 February 2020 to identify English-language studies, which examined correlates of free-living physical activity in children and adolescents (0-19 years) with ID. Study quality was assessed. Correlates were analysed using a narrative synthesis and classified using the socioecological model as intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational or environmental. RESULTS: Fifteen studies published between 2010 and 2019 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Forty-eight individual correlates were identified. Studies were predominantly focused on intrapersonal-level correlates. Of those correlates investigated in more than one study (n = 6), having better motor development was positively associated with physical activity. Inconsistent results were found for age and cardiorespiratory fitness. Sex, percentage body fat and body mass index were not correlated. No interpersonal-level, organisational-level or environmental-level correlates were included in more than one study. CONCLUSIONS: To date, we have limited and inconclusive evidence about correlates of physical activity in children and adolescents with ID. Only when future studies unravel correlates and determinants, across all domains of the socioecological model, will the potential opportunities to improve health by increasing physical activity levels be achievable.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2021 · doi:10.1111/jir.12811