Physical activity levels of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities during physical education and recess.
Self-contained classrooms cut recess movement for teens with ID, but quick ABA prompts can reverse it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers strapped accelerometers on teens with and without intellectual disability.
They compared movement during PE class and recess.
Kids came from both inclusive and self-contained classrooms.
What they found
In PE, both groups logged about the same moderate-to-vigorous activity.
At recess, students in self-contained rooms moved far less than inclusive peers.
Classroom placement, not the disability label, predicted the gap.
How this fits with other research
Pan (2008) saw the same recess slump in younger kids with autism, so the pattern starts early.
Jean-Arwert et al. (2020) widened the lens and showed daily activity stays low across ages, backing the worry.
Lord et al. (1986) gives hope: simple picture cues and quick feedback tripled recess play for kids with ID—so we already have a fix.
Miltenberger et al. (2013) seems to clash by finding equal MVPA in kids with ASD, but parents there reported fewer activity types, not minutes; the new study used school-day sensors, so both can be true.
Why it matters
If your student with ID is in a self-contained room, recess is likely dead time.
Add brief prompts, choice of equipment, or peer buddies to spark movement.
You can lift MVPA without extra staff or longer breaks.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To compare physical activity levels in adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities during physical education and recess. Forty adolescents diagnosed with intellectual disabilities (inclusive classrooms, n=20; self-contained classrooms, n=20) and 40 age-matched typically developing peers (general classrooms) participated. All participants wore an Actigraph GT1M accelerometer for 5 consecutive weekdays during school hours. Three groups of adolescents were similarly active during physical education; however, adolescents with intellectual disabilities in self-contained classrooms were less active during recess than did the other two groups. In addition, they spent less percentage of time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during recess than did the typically developing adolescents. An inclusive, structured, and supportive environment promotes physical activity engagement in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.042