Feasibility and Acceptability of a Co-produced Intervention to Improve Physical Activity and Motor Competence Amongst Children With Intellectual Disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder: Movement Matters (MM)

Movement Matters: Feasibility of a Pilot Intervention to Improve Physical Activity and Motor Competence Amongst Children With Intellectual Disabilities

The goal of this observational study is to find out whether an intervention designed to improve physical activity levels and movement skills is practical and acceptable for children aged 7-11 years with intellectual disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorder.

The intervention will be designed with input from people with lived experience, including professionals working in schools, physical education, sport, health services, and charities, as well as parents and families. The study will explore whether this type of intervention can be realistically delivered in special educational needs schools as part of their usual day-to-day activities.

The main question the study aims to answer is:

• Is an intervention to improve physical activity and motor skills feasible and acceptable for special educational needs schools?

Participating schools will implement the intervention for six weeks. Several outcomes related to feasibility and acceptability will be measured to understand how well the intervention works in a school setting.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity; Motor Skills Development
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Movement Matters

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 43

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Liverpool, United Kingdom
    • Liverpool John Moores University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Pupils within Special Educational Needs and Disability schools in the North-West Region of England

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children aged 7 to 11 years
• Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) statement indicating a primary diagnosis of intellectual disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Independently ambulatory (able to walk without physical assistance) to allow completion of the motor skill testing protocol

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children younger than 7 years or older than 11 years
• No Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) statement indicating a primary diagnosis of intellectual disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Not independently ambulatory and therefore unable to complete the motor skill testing protocol

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
School Eligibility Rate (Screening Log Assessment)	Percentage of all SEND schools in the target area that meet predefined inclusion criteria, assessed using a school eligibility screening log.	Baseline
Participant Recruitment Rate (Consent Form Return Log)	Percentage of eligible children who return completed parent/carer consent forms, recorded using a consent tracking log.	Baseline
Completion Rate of Motor Competence (BOT-2), Physical Activity (Accelerometry), and Anthropometric (Stature and Body Mass) Measures	Percentage of recruited participants who complete all baseline and follow-up assessments using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2), Accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X worn on the non dominant wrist for 7-days), stature measured to the nearest 0.1cm and body mass to the nearest 0.1 kg.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks
Loss to Follow-Up Rate (Child-Level Outcome Assessment Completion Log)	Percentage of recruited participants who do not complete any follow-up assessments, recorded using the study assessment tracking log.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks
Intervention Dose Delivered (Teacher Implementation Log)	Adherence to the Movement Matters intervention measured using a fidelity checklist completed by teachers	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks
Teacher and Coach Acceptability (Post-Training Acceptability Questionnaire)	Study-specific post-training acceptability questionnaire consisting of 5-point Likert scale items assessing satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and appropriateness of the training.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks
Intervention Acceptability (Teacher Post-Intervention Acceptability Questionnaire)	Teacher satisfaction with the intervention measured using a structured post-intervention acceptability questionnaire including 5-point Likert scale items assessing overall satisfaction (not at all satisfied to very satisfied), perceived ease of use, and perceived burden (strongly disagree to strongly agree), as well as open-ended qualitative feedback questions.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Physical Activity Levels (Measured by accelerometry)	Change in physical activity levels from baseline to 6 weeks measured using ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer worn on the non-dominant wrist at baseline and follow-up for 7-days. Physical activity will be quantified as average minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks
Change in Motor Competence (Measured by BOT-2)	Change in motor competence from baseline to 6 weeks measured using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2). Motor competence is scored according to the BOT-2 manual, first receiving a raw score then converted to point score.	Baseline to the end of intervention at 6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Liverpool John Moores University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 16, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 14, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 14, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 11, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): March 6, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical Activity; Children; Intellectual Disabilities; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Motor Competence
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Signs and Symptoms; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Intellectual Disability; Motor Activity
• Other Study ID Numbers: TRUST/VC/AC/SG/5742-8882

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No