An Examination of the Effectiveness of Ballet on Gross Motor Function in Children with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how ballet could be used as a form of therapy to improve gross motor function in children with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDDs). Fourteen participants (ages 4-12, 10 males, 4 females) who were enrolled in Monday and Friday camp days at ABC Educational Services, Inc. Stimulation School Summer Camp were included in the study. Participants completed the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, 2nd Edition (BOT-2) during the first week of the intervention. For the following six weeks, participants engaged in thirty-minute ballet classes twice a week. During week eight of the intervention participants completed the BOT-2 test a second time. The results indicated that children with a suspected IDD did not consistently score below average on the BOT-2. Additionally, statistically significant correlations between ballet instruction and gross motor proficiency were not found. Further studies should be done to continue to examine the relationship between ballet and gross motor function.

Comments from Mentors

I would say I am proud of her and her study but a more accurate statement would be to be humbled she trusted me to guide her throughout the process. Corinne is unequivocally a one-of-one. Her dedication and discipline to her idea allowed her to develop a research question, design an intervention, and then successfully deliver the intervention. Corinne’s maturity and independence are unmatched and on the level of many graduate students.

— Philip Eposito