Abstract:

The aim of the research problem is to update the level of physical literacy of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in terms of their special educational needs and the structural changes of the movement habits. The basic goal of physical and sports education in primary education is to maintain physical literacy and to develop motor competencies of children. A multidimensional approach to children´s physical literacy encompasses four interrelated areas: physical fitness, basic motor skills, daily physical activity, and psycho-social/cognitive factors. They significantly affect the deficiency of physical activity in their daily routine of children with special needs, which proves to be one of the most serious health risk factors. The aim of the research was to find out the results of motor learning of 6 and 7 year olds, to diagnose the level of their basic motor competencies. Motor competencies are understood as individual movement capacities, which can be developed in the conditions of physical and sports education in schools. The aim was to assess the physical literacy of probands, to define and compare the context affecting the manifestations of motorics and the course of motor learning of the population of children at the beginning of compulsory schooling, and to mediate the findings into the design of educational practices within the framework of primary physical and sports education conditions. We assumed a significant different level of motor competencies of children with ADHD.

The research was attended by pupils in the first year of primary school in Slovakia. The level of motor competencies was diagnosed with the MOBAK 1 test battery by Herrmann, Seelig (2014). applying multidimension of mathematical and statistical methods, we carried out the identification of the structure of the attributes of physical literacy of the paediatric population. A parametric t-test for independent samples, F - test for compare variances, the correlation coefficient and Effect Size were used to compare the results of our study.

The statistical significance of the differences in the level of movement competencies between the group with ADHD and standard population group was confirmed. The changes in the internal structure of basic motor competencies from the viewpoint of gender differences were determined as well. Our research investigation clearly reflected gender differences in the level of basic motor competencies in terms of gender: the dominance of boys in movements with the subject, and vice versa, girls in movements of their own body. Such differences are explained to be due to different opportunities for motor experiences, parental and social expectations.

The analysis allows us to conclude that the verification of our assumption that attention deficit disorders and hyperactivity significantly negatively affect the level of physical literacy of pupils with special educational needs and suggest a tendency for problems with pro-prioreceptive perception of body movements.

Keywords:

Basic motor competencies, MOBAK 1, school physical education and sport.