The relationship between the effect of setting a goal on standing broad jump performance and behaviour regulation ability in children with intellectual disability.
A 20-cm jump goal lifts distance for most teens with ID except those with Down syndrome.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Teens with intellectual disability tried a standing broad jump. First they jumped as far as they could three times. The coach then set a goal: beat your best jump by 20 cm. Each teen got three more tries with that goal in mind.
No extra rewards were given. The researcher simply told the goal and recorded the distance.
What they found
The group jumped about 6 cm farther when the goal was set. The teens who had the most trouble staying on task gained the most distance. Yet the kids who also had Down syndrome did not jump any farther with the goal.
How this fits with other research
Vostanis et al. (2023) saw the same boost when kids with autism tried to beat their own math scores. The simple "beat your best" cue works across tasks and diagnoses.
Bhaumik et al. (2008) found that teens with Down syndrome do gain academic skills in mainstream classes. The new study shows they do not gain motor skill from a quick goal cue. The gap is about outcome type, not ability.
Ogg-Groenendaal et al. (2014) pooled 20 studies and showed any exercise can cut problem behavior in ID by about 30%. The jump task is a fast way to add that exercise and may double as a reinforcer.
Why it matters
You can add a 20-cm goal to any gross-motor warm-up for clients with ID. It costs nothing and gives an instant boost unless the client has Down syndrome. For those clients, keep the exercise but pair it with stronger cues or rewards. Track who has weak self-regulation—they are the ones who will jump farthest after the goal is set.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Measure each client's best broad jump, then say 'Try to beat it by one shoe length' and record the next three jumps.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The objectives of the present study were to investigate the differences in standing broad jump performance between two task conditions (with and without goal) and to clarify the relation of verbal behaviour regulation to this difference in children with intellectual disability. The subjects were 30 children with intellectual disability with an average age of 16.2 years. In the without-goal condition, subjects were instructed to jump as far as possible. In the with-goal condition, on the other hand, subjects were given a goal set 20 cm away from the distance of the first trial in the without-goal condition and instructed to jump for the goal. Verbal behaviour regulation ability was measured by three tasks on Garfield's motor impersistence test keeping eyes closed, protruding tongue with eyes open and keeping mouth open. The mean performance of the with-goal condition was 108 cm, while that of the without-goal condition was 102 cm. The difference between these results was significant, thus indicating the effectiveness of setting a goal to improve jumping performance. Among three independent variables (chronological age, IQ and behaviour regulation score), only the behaviour regulation score was found to be significantly related to the condition difference. It was more effective to demonstrate the goal when the behaviour regulation abilities of the children were lower, but giving the children a goal was not effective for subjects with Down's syndrome. Children with Down's syndrome were considered to have a deficiency in the motor ability itself, not in the system for expressing the motor ability.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1999 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.1999.43120149.x