Conducting a ground exercise rehabilitation program, which is a health promotion exercise education for children with developmental disabilities in the community : Organized by Incheon National University's Department of Exercise Health (Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation Laboratory), Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Yeonsu-gu (sponsor organization)

Department of Exercise Health at our university "The Laboratory of Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation (Responsible Professor: Kim Dong-il, Researcher in charge: Hwang Hye-yeon, Lee Da-hye)"It was organized by this and supported by the Yeonsu-gu Office of Incheon Metropolitan City (head of the district: Lee Jae-ho). As part of the "University-linked Lifelong Learning Promotion Project," the Ground Exercise Rehabilitation Program, a "Health Promotion Exercise Education for Children with Developmental Disabilities" program residing in Incheon Metropolitan City, was successfully and safely terminated.

In general, most children with developmental disabilities have a higher incidence of obesity and chronic diseases than non-disabled children. The reason is the lack of opportunities to participate in physical activities, the increase in sedentary life, and the incorrect eating habits of trying to eat only certain foods. In response, our university's "Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation Laboratory" said it provided ground exercise rehabilitation programs to children with developmental disabilities, who are socially underprivileged, with the aim of regular exercise participation and health promotion.

This program was targeted at children with developmental disabilities living in Incheon Metropolitan City. There were 18 ground exercise rehabilitation programs, three times a week for six weeks from May 8, 2023 to June 16, 2023, and three times a week for six weeks from July 21, 2023 to August 30, 2023. This was done twice in total. Since the characteristics of children with developmental disabilities who participated in this program are very diverse, individualized ground exercise rehabilitation programs were provided to suit the characteristics of the subjects. This ground exercise rehabilitation program carried out exercises that can develop cardiopulmonary endurance, agility, flexibility, and balance, which are health and fitness functions. Furthermore, through cognitive ability and social exercise was conducted to improve cognitive function and social skills that children with developmental disabilities lack compared to non-disabled children.

As shown in [Picture 1],Results of comparing changes in challenging behavior (problem behavior) with mean and standard deviation, The change in "screaming" is 2.8±1.6 times to 0.8±0.98 times, The change in "attack behavior" is from 2.3±0.86 times to 0.5±0.52 times, Changes in "other challenging behaviors" tended to decrease from 3.1±1.31 to 2.1±3.16. Also, As a result of comparing changes in physical strength with mean and standard deviation, The change in "top-up" is 13.3±9.33 times to 17±6.5 times, The change in "six-minute walk" showed a tendency to increase from 297.2±96.63m to 335.1±92.37m. In conclusion, it was confirmed that the participation of the ground exercise rehabilitation program conducted by Incheon National University's Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation Laboratory showed positive changes in the challenging behavior (problem behavior) and physical strength of children with developmental disabilities.

Parents who participated in the program said, "This ground exercise rehabilitation program was beneficial and very helpful for improving the physical and mental health of the child. If I have a chance next time, I want to participate”, “I wish there would be such a program often. The child's satisfaction was good and the activity after the program was good. It was a shame that it was a short-term program and I wish I could continue these programs for the long term” saying that, It showed high satisfaction with this program.

Researcher Hwang Hye-yeon (Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation Laboratory), who conducted this program “There is a lack of leaders and programs for them to provide exercise to the underprivileged in the community, such as people with developmental disabilities. Therefore, various programs will be developed and provided so that no one is in the blind spot of the movement, including the disabled.” She said. In addition, researcher Lee Da-hye said, "In Incheon Metropolitan City, there are limited sports programs for people with developmental disabilities to participate. Therefore, we will try to develop and provide various exercise programs that can be participated by the developmentally disabled and the underprivileged in the community," she said, suggesting the direction of the future program. Our university's "Sports Medicine and Exercise Rehabilitation Laboratory" said it will develop various exercise programs for the disabled and the underprivileged in the community in the future and provide them with programs.

[Photo 1] First and second ground rehabilitation exercise programs (Incheon National University Sports Center)

(Hwang Hye-yeon, researcher at the bottom left, Lee Da-hye, researcher at the top right, and students of the Department of Motor Health and participants in the program)

[Photo 2] Ground rehabilitation exercise program (Incheon National University Sports Center Ballroom)

[Picture 1] Changes in challenging behavior (problem behavior) and physical fitness variables through the program