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Dear Colleagues,

The value of sports is often under-rated in the lives of children with neuro-developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD and intellectual disability.

Drawing on contemporary research and evaluation studies, this Special Issue will evidence the contribution that sports can make to the quality of lives of such children and their parents, especially with respect to improved health and wellbeing, their communication and peer interactions, their social networks and the development of friendships.

A wide range of sporting activities for preschoolers through to older teenagers will be considered, including individual and team sports, and those undertaken in special settings as well as mainstream sports clubs. We would particularly welcome submissions from low- and middle-income countries where sport may compensate for a lack of therapeutic services.

The papers will describe the steps taken to recruit, enrol and engage the participation of children and their families in sports so that practitioners can gain insights into new approaches they can adopt. However, evidence of the impact on children, their non-disabled sport partners and family members is essential. This can come from a variety of research designs and methodologies, as appropriate to the aims of the study.

This Olympic Year is the perfect time to recognise and affirm the contribution that sport can make to the lives of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Prof. Dr. Roy McConkey
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sports
games
play
children
developmental disabilities
ASD
intellectual disability
family
international

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Sports for All”—An Evaluation of a Community Based Physical Activity Program on the Access to Mainstream Sport for Children with Intellectual Disability

by Florian Pochstein

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(18), 11540; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph191811540 - 14 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2194

Abstract

Access to club sports is still not a given for children with ID. Parents and children report numerous structural and social barriers to accessing mainstream sports. Sports clubs, on the other hand, want to include this group of people, but often do not know how to do it. Using a community-based approach, children with intellectual disabilities (8–15 years) and their parents were given the opportunity to participate in an 8-week sports program in four mainstream clubs organized by a self-help organization for people with intellectual disabilities. Focus groups were conducted with all participants (parents, children, and club representatives) before and after the program and evaluated by means of a thematic analysis. The children rated participation very positively and only very occasionally reported that they had been excluded. The parents confirmed this experience, but were nevertheless more critical in their assessment. Outside the research context of this study, the sports clubs hardly provided good support, which can also be deduced from previous negative experiences of the parents. The sports clubs themselves received valuable information about what their failings were: sufficiently available and qualified staff, better access to sports facilities, and a wider range of inclusive groups are needed. On the other hand, there was hardly any prejudice on the part of the non-disabled club members towards the new members with ID, which was evaluated extremely positively, albeit surprisingly, by the sports clubs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Engagement in Sport for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders)

15 pages, 346 KiB

Open AccessArticle

When the Normative Is Formative: Parents’ Perceptions of the Impacts of Inclusive Sports Programs

by Jason Rodriquez, Anika Lanser, Holly E. Jacobs, Ashlyn Smith and Sharbari Ganguly

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10889; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph191710889 - 01 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2122

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the perspectives of parents of youth with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) who participated in Special Olympics Unified Sports^®, a program in which high school students with and without IDD compete on the same team. Based on semi-structured interviews with parents (n = 23) as part of a larger evaluation of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools in three states in the United States, thematic analysis shows that parents perceived improvements in their child’s social and emotional skills, including demeanor and attitude, an enhanced sense of belonging at school, the emergence of new friendships and social opportunities, and rewarding interactions that flowed from the opportunity to engage in normative activities. Implications for schools and families are discussed in terms of the importance of providing and facilitating meaningful opportunities for inclusive extracurricular activities such as sports for youth with IDD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Engagement in Sport for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders)

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