Management of inappropriate behaviors of trainable mentally impaired students using antecedent exercise.
A quick, hard run before class lowers disruptive behavior in most students with intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four students with intellectual disability took part. Each school day they tried one of three warm-ups: no exercise, slow jogging, or fast jogging.
The teacher then ran regular lessons while staff counted disruptive acts like yelling or hitting. The team flipped the warm-up type every day to see which one kept behavior calm.
What they found
Fast jogging before class cut disruptive behavior for three of the four students. The harder the run, the fewer the problems.
One student hardly changed, but for the others the day started smoother after a brisk 10-15 minute run.
How this fits with other research
In-Lee et al. (2012) later pooled 14 similar studies and found the same link: exercise helps people with intellectual disability. Their math showed a medium benefit, especially with four sessions a week lasting 31-60 minutes.
Collins et al. (2017) stretched the idea further. They ran a 10-week gym program and saw fitness gains, proving the payoff can last months, not just one morning.
Einarsson et al. (2016) looked at the same age group and saw a problem: students with intellectual disability move far less after school. Sarber et al. (1983) offers a fix—put the run inside the school day so no one misses it.
Why it matters
You can start class with a short, vigorous jog instead of a long talk-about-rules. No gear is needed except sneakers and a hallway or blacktop. Try it for students who call out, hit, or leave their seat. Track the behaviors for a week and see if the running days run smoother.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The effects of several levels of exercise on inappropriate behaviors of four trainable mentally impaired students were observed. Treatment conditions, which occurred as the first daily activity, included: Phase I, daily alternating conditions of warm-up exercises and jogging at a moderate rate for a short distance; Phase II, daily alternating conditions of no-exercise periods and jogging at a vigorous rate for a moderate distance; and Phase III, jogging at a vigorous rate for a moderate distance on consecutive days. For one student two additional conditions occurred, Phase IV, long-distance jogging on consecutive days at a vigorous rate and Phase V, consecutive days of no exercise. Observations of three inappropriate behaviors of each student occurred immediately after, 1 hour after, and 2 hours after each exercise period. Results indicate a decrease in all three inappropriate behaviors for three of four students and an inverse relationship between the level of exercise and the amount of inappropriate behavior for three of four students. Improvements over existing studies are discussed with suggestions for future research.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1983 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1983.16-477