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The article discusses changes which have been seen in adapted physical activity programs for people with disabilities and the Special Olympics program as a result of contributions from socialite and disabilities advocate Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died on August 11, 2009. A discussion of research which evaluated the impact that physical fitness had on people with disabilities is presented. In the article the author offers his opinion on Shriver's contributions and on the role that professionals involved within the adapted physical activity field can play in helping people with disabilities.

This study, with a top T-52 class athlete, determines the relationship between stroke frequency (SF) and push time (PT) and wheelchair velocity (Wv) using different handrim diameters (HD) and the effect of different HDs on the athlete's heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (LACT) at competition speeds. Wv shows a linear-direct relationship with SF but a linear-inverse relationship with PT (p < .001 in both cases). Using bigger handrims (0.37 m instead of 0.36 m), SF increases 6%, while PT decreases 27% (at 24 Km·h-1). HR (p < .0001) increases with Wv and is also affected by HD with differences between the 0.34 m—0.36 m handrim group (lower values) and the 0.37 m handrim (higher values). Significant interaction (p < .0001) is identified between HD and Wv. LACT results seem to follow the same direction as HR. This methodology helped the athlete to choose the optimum HD, and his achievements (some world records) indicate that HD optimization could be highly profitable in sport terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the association between physical activity and self-perceptions such as body image, physical self-concept, and self-esteem among persons with an acquired physical disability in a non-Western population. Other personal variables such as gender and time of onset of disability were also examined. A convenience sample of 66 Hong Kong Chinese adults with an acquired physical disability were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires about their levels of physical activity and self-perceptions. Over 70% of the participants were not physically active enough to obtain health benefits. Contrary to studies focused on Western populations, the relationships between physical activity and self-perceptions were weak. The time of onset of disability, rather than activity level and gender, was more related to self-perceptions. The present study provides some evidence to advance our knowledge of self-perceptions in a non-Western population and highlights the importance of considering culture and social location in studying physical activity levels of those with an acquired physical disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedometer accuracy for steps and activity time during dynamic movement for youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) were examined. Twenty-four youth with ID (13 girls, 13.1 ± 3.2 yrs; 11 boys, 14.7 ± 2.7 yrs) were videotaped during adapted physical education class while wearing a Walk4Life 2505 pedometer in five locations around the waist. Researchers viewed each videotape and recorded observed steps and activity time. Observed findings were compared with pedometer recorded steps and time. On average, pedometer registered steps were underestimated by approximately 14% ± 16.5%, whereas pedometer registered time was overestimated by approximately 8.7% ± 21.8%. The findings indicate that the accuracy of pedometers may be compromised during dynamic movement for youth with ID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activity participation of persons with disabilities might be enhanced by careful application of motor behavior research to instructional settings. However, it is argued that this research is not easily stated in terms that are useful to practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between theoretical research and practice, and to suggest research strategies that will translate findings into helpful information for instruction. A number of applied research strategies are proposed, intended to gradually move from laboratory-inspired problems to issues applicable in typical instructional settings. These strategies include a clear conceptual rationale for including people with disabilities in the research, task modifications, a powerful initial study, replications, investigating interactions, conducting comparative studies, modifying the unit of analysis, generalization, and instructional considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines to facilitate the inclusion of people with disabilities as subjects in research. Practical suggestions and ethical issues are discussed. The guidelines are separated into components of the research process: (a) locating and selecting subjects, (b) communicating with caregivers and association personnel, (c) obtaining informed consent, (d) preparing subjects for participation in research, and (e) reporting research results. The guidelines ensure treatment of subjects with dignity and improve research quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention is drawn to specific practical and ethical concerns that may arise when researchers study responses to vigorous-exercise in populations with disabilities. It is argued that the study of such individuals can provide important information regarding responses to exercise by non-disabled people. This thesis is illustrated by selected examples relating to (a) central versus peripheral limitation of oxygen transport, (b) the contribution of muscle pumping to venous return during vigorous exercise, (c) the contribution of sympathetic innervation to aerobic training responses, (d) the ceiling of muscle fiber hypertrophy, (e) the functional demands of daily living, and (f) the responsiveness of young children to aerobic training. It is concluded that exercise physiologists have already learned much about normal reactions to exercise by studies involving those disabilities, but there remains scope for many further investigations exploiting the special characteristics of such populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the benefits of using theory-driven research in sport and exercise psychology using individuals with physical disabilities. The cognitively oriented theories of transactional stress and emotion (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), attributional theory (Weiner, 1985), and theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985) are outlined. Relevant research with individuals with physical disabilities is examined. The paper addresses how integrating these three theories with research with this population can stimulate research ideas, improve the generality of theories used in sport and exercise psychology, and provide meaningful knowledge about their experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the construction of the new observation scales for objectives in psychomotor therapy is discussed. In the first phase some 213 therapeutic goals found in the scientific literature are reduced to nine objective clusters by cluster analysis: emotional relations, self-confidence, activity, relaxation, movement control, focusing attention on the situation, movement expressivity, verbal communication, and social regulation ability. In the second phase these objectives are made operational as observation categories, and for each item a 7-point scale is constructed with positive as well as negative gradations (e.g.,the patient is extremely active vs. passive). Two versions of the scale were developed. The results of the reliability studies of these two variants are satisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents a paper regarding sport for disabled individuals and offers ideas about research opportunities in the field. The paper discusses trends in disabled sport research, existing research findings, and possible research directions. It is suggested that researchers in this field work with experts in physiology, medicine, biomechanics, psychology and other fields.

The article looks at several papers which have been published in professional journals and present research regarding disabled athletes. Papers which are reviewed include "One jumped off the balance beam: Meta-analysis of perceptual-motor training," by K. Kavale and P. D. Mattson which was published in "Journal of Learning Disabilities" and "Development of an exercise program to improve the static and dynamic balance of profoundly hearing impaired children," by S. Lewis, L. Higham, and D. B. Cherry which was published in "American Annals of the Deaf."

An editorial notes that this issue marks the tenth anniversary of the journal. The article discusses how the journal is organized into three sections: Viewpoint, Application, and Research, in addition to a book review and abstract section. The journal is the official publication of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity.

This article presents a reflection on the 1993 Child in Sport and Physical Activity Joint Conference of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology and the Canadian Association of Sport Sciences. It discusses the goal of the symposium, the examination of individual abilities in sports performance over a wide variety of perspectives and theories. The article also serves as an introduction to several articles presented at the symposium, including a paper examining the use of disabled individuals to help develop theoretical modeling for movement programs, and a research essay examining movement control for people with Down syndrome.

This article presents a summary of the article "The use of contextual interference trials by mildly mentally handicapped children," by D. Porretta and K. O'Brien, appearing in the journal "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport." The researchers studied the effects of contextual interference on motor tasks among mentally retarded children.

The article presents a summary of the article "The health status of mild to moderate intellectually handicapped adolescents," by C. P. Larson and Y. LaPointe, which originally appeared in the "Journal of Mental Deficiency Research" in 1986. The conclusions and implications found by the study are briefly discussed.

This article details a study concerned with examining swimming ability in people with disabilities. The study attempted to determine the degree to which a disability affects performance in swimmers, as well as research the effectiveness of studying disabled swimmers with the same criteria used to gauge the ability of non-disabled swimmers. Two groups of swimmers, both disabled and non-disabled, were tested and variables such as drag-time and oxygen intake were compared between these groups. Variable results indicated a commonalty between disabled and non-disabled swimmers.

This article summarizes the research paper "Theoretical models and special education: The impact of varying world views on service delivery and research," by M. S. Rosenberg and L. Jackson, in "Remedial and Special Education." The paper reviews the ways theoretical perspectives or model views affect the delivery of services to those in need of special education and influence the course of applied research with individuals who have handicaps.

The article discusses a paper entitled "Muscle stiffness in Down syndrome and other mentally handicapped subjects: A research note," by W. E. Davis and W. E. Sinning which was published in "Journal of Motor Behavior." The author describes the study which looked at the effects of strength training on elbow flexor stiffness among people with Down syndrome, people without Down syndrome, and people without handicaps.