Heart Rate Responses of Profoundly Retarded, Multiply Handicapped Children during Closed-Skill Fine Motor and Open-Skill Gross Motor Activities

This study compared the heart rate responses of two profoundly retarded, multiply handicapped children during the performance of closed-skill fine motor activities and open-skill gross motor activities. The fine motor skills were typical classroom activities, and the gross motor skills were a part of each child’s special physical education programming. Heart rates were recorded for 20-sec intervals from the onset of the performance of each skill until the task objective was obtained. Based upon the results of this study, we concluded that the closed-skill fine motor classroom activities induce physiological stress at levels never before suspected. It is suggested that the dramatic heart rate responses may result from a hyposensitive condition of the spindle afferents, the gamma efferents, and the kinesthetic joint receptors, or from a breakdown in the retrieval of the stored motor program resulting in inappropriate spatial and temporal summation. As a result of the heart rate responses, it is suggested that classroom learning programs may need to be redesigned to accommodate for fatigue in this type of child.

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