A study was designed to determine the effects of various ball sizes on children's catching ability and to examine the results as a between- and within-group factor. It was believed that the use of the two-test design would help to establish the validity of past and future tests of this nature. The between-subjects design group consisted of 48…

This handbook presents a number of creative drama activities that may be used by teachers to motivate and enhance student development. Included are activities for sensory awareness; spatial awareness and body movement; verbalization; pantomime, rhythm, music and poetry; storybuilding and dramatization; and characterization and improvisation. Each…

This paper discusses preliminary results of a project investigating the phenomenon of mastery motivation with three significant groups: provider, family, and extremely premature infant. Three focus groups to determine the state of early intervention's knowledge and utilization of mastery motivation were conducted in three states. A repeated…

This elementary physical education teacher developed a student evaluation system by rewriting the curriculum, producing a series of grade-specific objectives to guide her teaching, matching learning activities, creating rubrics for the objectives which she and the students could use, and generating computerized, personalized grade reports for each…

This study documents the goals, purposes, and outcomes of a 6-week conductive education program for 10 children (ages 1-10) with cerebral palsy in Brisbane, Australia. Observations revealed little improvement in mobility or eating skills, though parents reported that their children had made gains in such areas as self-care, hand function, and arm…

This practicum aimed to provide nonverbal students with a communication program to increase expressive language for daily living skills. Target students were four children (ages 6 to 7) with cerebral palsy. The practicum involved introducing children to pleasurable activities that encouraged communication behaviors, showing the children…

This booklet presents child-rearing practices found successful by families of children who are deaf-blind, and includes photographs of deaf-blind children using the techniques. Along with a broad overview of communications theory as it applies to young deaf-blind children, techniques are described for using tactile objects as keys to…

A taxonomy of psychomotor skills provides a classification of all human movement forms. The development of motor skills in this hierarchy begins with the reflexive physical responses of the infant. The stages of growth include basic interactive movement forms, skilled movement forms, and functional and creative movement forms. This taxonomy offers…

The manual presents results and findings of a statewide motor development inservice training project for teachers of exceptional children and provides training modules from the project. Section 1 gives an overview of the structure, philosophy, and procedures of the project. The evaluation plan of the program is described, and the development of…

EXERCISE AND SPORT SCIENCES REVIEWS is a journal, published once per year, in which reviews of research concerning biological, biomechanical, behavioral, and kinesiological aspects of human movement and performance are published. This book contains the following articles: (1) Organizational Processes in Motor Control, by A. M. Gentile and J.…

The manual presents sequences of skills designed for use as guides to teaching/learning objectives and as a basis for evaluating and recording special education students' progress. It is explained that the goal of the first level of objectives (sequenced in this document) is to enable the student to function at a motor/psychomotor state of…

In a study on improvement of basic motor skills by educable mentally retarded (EMR) children with special training in a sport and game situation, 21 EMR boys and 19 EMR girls (aged 4-1 to 10-1) were divided into an experimental and a control group, matched by chronological age, IQ, sex, and pretest scores on the Basic Skills Test (reliability .97)…

Students in 24 perceptual development classes for the minimally brain injured were studied to determine the effect of structured physical activity on motor skill development, to compare this effect with the effect of unstructured activity, and to determine the effect of an increased amount of time of physical activity. The Johnson Test of Motor…

The curriculum guide for teachers of trainable mentally retarded (TMR) children identifies numerous skills appropriate to three developmental levels (level one, chronological age (CA) 4 to 10 years and mental age (MA) 1 to 5 years; level two, CA 10 to 15 years and MD 3.5 to 7 years; level three, CA 15 to 18 years and MA 5 to 8 years) in the areas…

Comments on a study that reported positive effects of a neurobehavioral-intervention approach on motor skills of young children with cerebral palsy. Discusses problems associated with contrived research situations and urges researchers and practitioners to join together to design and investigate the effects of new interventions. (CR)