People with Intellectual Disabilities, Their Physical Fitness, Assessment of Fitness and Interventions / Physical Activity

It is well and consistently documented that persons withintellectual disability (ID) are less fit than their peers with- out a disability and that fitness levels are generally low.Assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness is of primary concern in the development and monitoring of program effectiveness. However, instrumentation validity, reliabilityand feasibility are questioned due to the indiscriminateuse of various protocols in assessing persons with ID. Certain problematic issues, due to psychological and sociological learning characteristics of many persons with ID, impede what is perceived as basic protocol in the assess- ment of cardiorespiratory fitness. These methodologicalissues have created concerns regarding the validity andreliability of previous descriptive research and generatedthe need for more research work. This presentation reviews previous research, identifies protocol modificationsand discusses about problems in assessment when testingpersons with ID. The discussion is directed to both field- testing methods as well as laboratory procedures. Guidelines for planning interventions are suggested.

PDF

___

1. Agiovlasitis S, Pitetti KH, Guerra M, Fernhall B. (2011). Prediction of VO2peak from the 20-m shuttle-run test in youth with Down syndrome. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 28,146-156.
2. Baynard T, Pitetti KH, Guerra M, Unnithan VB, Fernhall B. (2008). Age-related changes in aerobic capacity in individuals with mental retardation: A 20-yr review. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40, 1984-1989.
3. Carmeli E, Zinger-Vaknin T, Morad M, Merrick J. (2005). Can physical training have an effect on well-being in adults with mild intellectual disability? Mechanisms of Ageing and development, 126, 299-304.
4. Chanias AK, Reid G, Hoover MH. (1998). Exercise effects on health-related physical fitness of individuals with an intellectual disability: A meta-analysis. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly 15, 119-140.
5. Cowley PM, Ploutz-Snyder LL, Baynard T, Heffernan K, Jae SY, Hsu S, Lee M, Pitetti KH, Reiman MP, Fern- hall B. (2010). Physical fitness predicts functional tasks in individuals with Down syndrome. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 42, 388-393.
6. Fernhall B, McCubbin JA, Pitetti KH, Rintala P, Rimmer JH, Millar AL, De Silva A. (2001). Prediction of maximal heart rate in individuals with mental retardation. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33, 1655- 1660.
7. Fernhall B, Mendonca CV, Baynard T. (2013). Reduced work capacity in individuals with Down syndrome: A con- sequence of autonomic dysfunction? Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 2013 Apr 3. [Epub ahead of print].
8. Fernhall B, Pitetti K. (2001). Limitations to physical work capacity in individuals with mental retardation. Clinical Exercise Physiology, 3, 176-185.
9. Fernhall B, Pitetti KH, Millar AL, Hensen T, Vukovich MD. (2000). Cross validation of the 20 m shuttle run in children and adolescents with mental retardation. Adapt- ed Physical Activity Quarterly, 17, 402-412.
10. Fernhall B, Pitetti KH, Rimmer JH, McCubbin JA, Rintala P, Millar AL, Kittredge J, Burkett LN. (1996). Cardiorespiratory capacity of individuals with mental retardation including Down syndrome. Medicine and Sci- ence in Sports and Exercise, 28, 366-371.
11. Frey GC, McCubbin JA, Hannigan-Downs S, Kasser SL, Skaggs SO. (1999). Physical fitness of trained runners with and without mental retardation. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 16, 126-137.
12. González-Agüero A, Vicente-Rodríguez G, Moreno LA, Guerra-Balic M, Ara I, Casajús JA. (2010). Health-relat- ed physical fitness in children and adolescents with Down syndrome and response to training. Scandinavian Jour- nal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20, 716-724.
13. Graham A, Reid G. (2000). Physical fitness of adults with an intellectual disability: A 13-year follow-uo study. Re- search Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 71(2), 152-161.
14. Guerra M, Pitetti KH, Fernhall B. (2003). Cross validation of the 20-meter shuttle run test for adolescents with Down syndrome. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 20, 70-79.
15. Harris N, Rosenberg A, Jangda S, O'Brien K, Gallagher ML. (2003). Prevalence of obesity in International Special Olympic athletes as determined by body mass index. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 103(2), 235- 237.
16. Hilgenkam p TI, van Wijck R, Evenhuis HM. (2010). Physical fitness in older people with ID-Concept and mea- suring instruments: a review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 31(5), 1027-1038.
17. Kaminsky LA, Arena R, Beckie TM, Brubaker PH, Church TS, Forman DE, et al. (2013). The importance of cardiorespiratory fitness in the United States: The need for a national registry: A policy statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 127(5), 652662.
18. Lahtinen U, Rintala P, Malin A. (2007). Physical perfor- mance of individuals with intellectual disability: A 30-year follow-up. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 24, 125- 143.
19. Lavay BW, French RW, Henderson HL. (2006). Positive behavior management in physical activity settings (2nd Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
20. McCubbin JA, Rintala P, Frey GC . (1997). Correlational study of three cardiorespiratory fitness tests for men with mental retardation. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 14, 43-50.
21. Millar AL, Fernhall B, Burkett LN. (1993). Effects of aerobic training in adolescents with Down syndrome. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 25, 270-274.
22. Montgomery DL, Reid G. Koziris LP. (1992). Reliability and validity of three fitness tests for adults with mental handicaps. Canadian Journal of Sports Sciences 17, 309- 315.
23. Pitetti KH, Fernhall B. (2005). Mental retardation. In J.S. Skinner (Ed.), Exercise testing and exercise pre- scription for special cases (3rd ed.) (pp. 392-403). Balti- more: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
24. Pitetti KH, Rimmer JH, Fernhall B . (1993). Physical fitness and adults with mental retardation. An over- view of current research and future directions. Sports Medicine, 16, 23-56.
25. Rimmer JH.(1992). Cardiovascular fitness program- ming for adults with mental retardation. Translating research into practice. Adapted Physical Activity Quar- terly, 9, 237-248.
26. Rintala P, Dunn JM, McCubbin JA, Ouinn C . (1992). Validity of a cardiorespiratory fitness test for men with mental retardation. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 24, 941-945.
27. Rintala P, McCubbin JA, Downs SB, Fox SD . (1997). Cross-validation of the 1-mile walking test for men with mental retardation. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29, 133-137.
28. Rintala P, McCubbin JA, Dunn JM. (1995). Familiar- ization process in cardiorespiratory fitness testing for persons with mental retardation. Sports Medicine, Training and Rehabilitation, 6, 15-27.
29. Temple V A, Foley JT, Lloyd M. (2013). Body mass index of adults with intellectual disability participating in Special Olympics by world region. Journal of Intel- lectual Disability Research, Jan 17. doi: 10.1111/jir.12011. [Epub ahead of print]