A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS ON BALANCE AND GENERAL COORDINATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MAINSTREAM EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeag.70.sp.iss.2.33Keywords:
special educational needs, static balance, general coordinationAbstract
The difficulties to integrate children with special educational needs (SEN) who attend physical education and sports classes in mainstream education endanger the achievement of school physical education objectives, with long-term effects, lack of movement leading to posture deficiencies, worsening of general health, low self-esteem, and deficient morpho-functional parameters. As more and more parents choose mainstream education for students with SEN, the need to identify solutions that help to integrate these children, including physical education classes too, becomes acute. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether there are differences between the results obtained by middle school children, with or without SEN, from the mainstream education system, in tests on static balance and general coordination. The study, which was conducted between April and June 2025, at the “Grigore Ghica Voievod” Secondary School in Suceava, involved 111 students (44 girls and 67 boys), of whom 19 had SEN (8 girls and 11 boys). The Flamingo Test was used for static balance, and the Matorin Test for general coordination. From the analysis of the results obtained, differences were observed between the two groups, with children without SEN recording higher motor parameters. The results obtained have confirmed previous research showing that special educational requirements affect balance and general coordination.
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