The evaluation of reaction time on mentally retarded children

This study was designed to compare the parameters of reaction time on mentally retarded and healthy children and also to find out the effect of sport on reaction time. The study consisted of 20 non-retarded (group I), 20 non-sporting trainable mentally retarded (group II), and 20 sporting trainable mentally retarded (group III). The avarage age of subjects were determined as 15.35 +/- 0.21 years in group I, 15.00 +/- 0.22 years in group II, and 15.15 +/- 0.21 years in group III. The audiovisual reaction time of both non-retarded and retarded children were measured. It was found that reaction time is lower in trainable mentally retarded children (p < 0.05). It can be concluded that sport is a valid and effective means of training which affects the reaction time positively.