This study examined the effects of a 12-week floor hockey training program on the motor proficiency, physical fitness, and adaptive development of youths with mild intellectual disabilities (IDs). A total of 54 youths with IDs were divided into two groups: a floor hockey exercise group (EG; n = 27; age, 16.59 ± 0.56 years) and a control group (CG; n = 27; age, 16.65 ± 0.63 years). The participants in the EG attended sessions of a floor hockey training program 3 times per week over a 12-week period. The CG group maintained their standard activities of daily living. The participants’ scores on the Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition, Brockport Physical Fitness Test, and traditional Chinese version of the teacher form of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Second Edition, were obtained before and after the intervention. The results of the study indicate that the 12-week floor hockey training program significantly increased the participants’ scores for most indicators of motor proficiency (p < 0.01), physical fitness (p < 0.01), and adaptive development (p < 0.01). The findings provide evidence that physical activity interventions focusing on floor hockey training are a viable therapeutic option for treating youths with IDs.

Little is known about the patterns of sedentary behavior and physical activity (PA) within different school levels (i.e., primary school and secondary school) and on different day types (i.e., weekdays and weekend days) among youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The sample was recruited from one city in Taiwan. A total of 68 male youths with ASD, aged 6–17 years, participated in the study. PA was assessed using an ActiGraph accelerometer, and sedentary behaviors (i.e., TV viewing, computer use, and reading time) were determined using a self-report log. The main findings were that (a) primary school youths with ASD were more active than secondary school youths with ASD on both weekdays and weekend days, but primary school youths with ASD also had more sedentary time than did secondary school youths with ASD on both weekdays and weekend days; (b) secondary school youths with ASD were more active but also more sedentary on weekdays compared with weekend days, but they had more screen use on weekend days compared with on weekdays. Future interventions are required to decrease sedentary behavior and increase PA to improve the health of these youths according to school level and day of the week.

This study examined the effect of a 12-week fundamental movement skills (FMS) intervention on the motor skills of 20 boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (ages 3–10 years) in an Asian country and whether the intervention effect would persist for at least 12 weeks after the intervention. In Part I, 10 boys with ASD (Group 1) received the intervention, whereas the remaining 10 boys with ASD (Group 2) did not (true control, no intervention). The arrangement was reversed in Part II. The main findings were that children in both the ASD groups exhibited significant improvements in the overall gross motor development and the locomotor and object control subtest scores after the intervention. The effectiveness appeared to be sustained for at least 12 weeks in Group 1. The study findings indicate the importance of including FMS programming as a part of the early intervention services delivered to young children with ASD.