The Effect of Physical Exercise on the Development of Gross Motor Skills in Children with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: The study is about to examine the effect of the selective physical exercises on gross motor activities of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study out of 120 students with ADHD who were studying under supervision of Tehran Department of Education of Exceptional Children, a number of 20 children (8.8±0.7 years old) with ADHD were selected randomly and based on pre-test. The measuring tool was the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency. The selected motor program (SPARK physical education program) including reinforcement activities, playing and sporting for children was repeated for 18 sessions by our subjects. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS-test) was used to check normal data distribution and the correlative t-test and independent t-test were used to compare mean values. Results: Eighteen sessions of the selected motor activities for the experiment group made significant differences in all variables of the study, but it was not the case for the control group. The experiment group’s differences were running speed and agility (p=0.001), balance (p=0.001), bilateral coordination (p=0.001) and strength (p=0.001). Conclusion: With regard to results of the study, it can be claimed that the selected physical education program which has been inspired by Spark physical education program is able to improve gross motor skills in children with ADHD.