The effect of progressive exercise therapy and combination self-modeling on behavioral disorders in children with intellectual disability

In addition to physical exercises, cognitive interventions such as imagery and modeling facilitate the learning of skills.

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of progressive exercise therapy and combination self-modeling on behavioral disorders in children with intellectual disability.

This study was a semi-experimental study with experimental group and control group. Among the exceptional children in Najafabad in 2019, 30 educable children with intellectual disabilities aged 8-12 years were selected based on inclusion criteria. Experimental groups underwent training intervention training for 4 weeks and four sessions per week. The tool used was Rutter children behavioral questionnaire. The data were analyzed with repeated measures analysis of variance trough SPSS20 software. 

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the means of self modeling behavioral disorders and progressive exercise therapy in the post-test phase with their averages in the pre-test phase (P<0.05). Examination of the means showed the combined self- modeling group had a better behavioral disorders score in the post-test phase than the other groups. Also, in the post-test phase, the mean of behavioral disorders in the progressive exercise therapy group was better than the control group. 

The findings of the present study showed the progressive Exercise therapy and combination self-modeling in educating and assisting the behavior of children with intellectual disability are effective. They could learn from the way in terms of time for educators, teachers and parents are beneficial.