Relatively little expert attention is paid to assessing the fitness or motor performance standard of children with mild intellectual disability, or children at special schools, in the Czech Republic. The aim of our research was therefore to ascertain the standard of selected fitness indicators among children attending practical elementary schools and to compare the findings with same-age children at ordinary elementary schools. Five field motor tests focusing mainly on fitness (Standing broad jump, Repeated sit-ups, 12-minute run, 4 x 10 m shuttle run, Sit and reach test) were conducted on 153 children attending special schools in Prague (age 10,62 ± 0,56 years) and, for comparison, 99 children from ordinary elementary schools (age 10,40 ± 0,57 years). Compared to their typically developing peers, the fitness of the children from special schools, in other words pupils with mainly mild intellectual disability, was statistically (p = 0.05) and substantively (Cohen’s d index) different. The biggest differences in performance were found in the Repeated sit-ups test; the smallest in running tests. The primary reason for this should be sought both in their intellectual disability and the specific attributes associated with it and also in the insufficient standard of external conditions (school, family). The research results highlight the urgent need to devote due attention and space to the motor abilities of special school pupils, as there is no doubt that even children with mild intellectual disability possess the sufficient prerequisites to develop their movement abilities.

Charles University Faculty of Phisical Education and Sport Prague

Úroveň tělesné zdatnosti žáků základních škol praktických

Lit.: 72