VR Program To Enhance Motor Skills And Physical Activity Of Children With A Developmental Disability

It is well documented that regular physical activity (PA) participations develop healthy lifestyles and provide opportunities to improve motor skills of children with a developmental disability (DD). In the last decade, exergames have gained increased attentions as a strategy to promote PA of children. However, the effect of exergames diminished since it restraints bodily movements and generate inadequate energy expenditure to satisfy the national PA guidelines. To overcome these issues, researchers have begun to pay attention to a virtual reality (VR)-based PA programs, but there is a lack of research evidence showing the effect of VR-based PA programs on motor skills and PA levels of children with DD. PURPOSE: To examine the changes in motor skills and PA levels in children with DD after participating the VR-based PA program. METHODS: Twenty-three children (age 7-12) who are diagnosed with DD (intellectual disability = 17; autism spectrum disorder = 6) were conveniently recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 12) and a control (n = 11) group. Each participant in the experimental group rode a stationary bike with a VZfit sensor (virzoom.com) and Oculus Quest headset (oculus.com) for 40 minutes each session, including 5 minutes of warm-up and cool-down respectively for 12 weeks in a laboratory setting. TGMD-3 and a GENEActiv accelerometer were used to measure the participant's motor skills and PA levels one week before and after the intervention. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze main and interaction effects. RESULTS: raw scores (Δ = +9.3, p < .001, d = 10.9), scaled scores (Δ = +3.2, p < .001, d = 9) and gross motor index (Δ = +11.3, p < .001, d = 7.5). Most importantly, group˟time interaction effects were all significant in locomotor raw scores (F = 54.9, p < .001), scaled scores (F = 43.5, p < .001) and gross motor index (F = 28.8, p < .001). For ball skills and PA levels, there were no significant main effects in both groups and no significant interaction effects as well. CONCLUSIONS: The VR-based PA program was effective in improving locomotor skills among children with DD. In order to effectively improve ball skills and PA levels of children with DD, a mixed-reality PA program is probably necessary.