Playing education: Motor activity and psychomotor deficit

Many studies have shown that playing education and motor activity are not only a means of psycho-physical therapy, but also an important means of social integration. The aim of our research project on motor activity based education, which has involved the participation of a primary school reception class of sixteen pupils, has been to integrate a pupil with psycho-motor disabilities into the class. The program was carried with the entire class, and the collaboration of the class teachers, in the school gym and available open spaces for two hours each week. In a quantitative way to plot the level of the gross motor skills which were carried out in the lessons we used the Ulrich TGM test. (Test of Gross Motor Development). The aim of the research for a greater integration was, instead, monitored using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) method of evaluation. The NGT decision making method was used in the class at the end of the program to gather pupils’ opinions, positive or negative, on the statements proposed by the experimenter in reference to their perceptions of the intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics which emerged from the group activities carried out. The exercises in the program involved suitable equipment (skipping ropes, balls, hula hoops) which greatly aided the integration of the pupil with disabilities into the class activity. The results of the research project clearly show a successful outcome, which highlights the effectiveness of couple or group work in co-operative games programs as an means of facilitating greater interaction, integration and support systems amongst students