Determining the Changes in Psychomotor Behavior of Adolescents with Special Needs

Abstract

The research focuses on the development of physical, cognitive and social components in 28 adolescents (12-14 years old). They are students of two institutionalized centers of Romania. The first one is the "Sfântul Ștelian" Inclusive Education School Center of Costesti, Arges(CC-12 subjects). The second one is the "Sfânta Filofteia" Inclusive Education School Center of Ștefănești (CS-16 subjects). This research aims to identify the individual particularities in the psychomotor behavior of adolescents with special needs (SEN). The subjects were included in personalized psychomotricity programs without compromising the effectiveness of these ones. The specific needs of each individual child were taken into consideration. Primary data were obtained by comprehensively analyzing the  psychological records of subjects and evaluating their motor development and physical condition.  Scientific instruments used: Optojump Next optical system  for movement analysis; Witty SEM intelligent semaphore; Sensamove balance miniboard and Tanita body composition analyzer. Finally, the results from the two centers were compared through statistical-mathematical analysis. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and, as appropriate, the Independent sample t-test and Mann-Witney U test were used. The results of the psycho-pedagogical records highlighted that the socio-demographic variables had relatively similar characteristics in the two institutionalized centers. Regarding the analysis of the psychomotor component, the comparisons between the groups distributions revealed statististically significant differences in only 18.7%. The combined results showed that psychomotor interventions can be similarly applied in the two centers, using the same program. The intervention program and the experimental results  of its application are the subject of another research.