Developmental levels of jumping movement in long rope skipping for children with developmental disorders

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that children with developmental disorders often display clumsiness when attempting tasks that require higher body coordination ability. Long rope skipping is one such activity, but while it is usually difficult for such children, it is also effective for helping develop body coordination ability and fostering cooperative attitudes. Thus, it is important to make the most of the benefits of long rope skipping for children with developmental disorders. However, appropriate teaching methods in this context have not been well established, nor have the developmental levels of jumping movement in long rope skipping been adequately addressed. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental levels of jumping movement in long rope skipping for children with developmental disorders.
The subjects were five children with developmental disorders who participated once a week in private physical activity sessions. The sessions were conducted by members of a laboratory for adapted physical activity. Specifically, body coordination ability in long rope skipping was evaluated in terms of the number of double bounce movements (jumping twice during one rotation of the rope), the interval of movement, the ground and foot interval, the trunk inclination motion angle, the hip joint flexion motion angle, the knee flexion motion angle, and the number of times that the children jumped with both legs.
The results indicated that there were several different movement forms in the five studied children. These forms were classified into five levels: step movement (the first level of long rope skipping movement), side jumping movement (second level), double bounce movement via large jumping movements (third level), double bounce movement via a small movement space (fourth level), and double bounce movement via small jumping movements (fifth level). These findings can be used to devise an effective approach for teaching long rope skipping to children with developmental disorders.