An investigation of the relative effects of blocked and random practice on the learning of ballistic motor skills in typically developing children and children with Down syndrome

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relative effects of blocked (“drill”) practice and random practice on motor learning of two throwing tasks in typical young children and children with Down syndrome. Participants. Eight participants between the ages of 60 and 84 months took part in this study. Experiment One involved four typical children (three male, one female) while Experiment Two involved four children with Down syndrome (three female, one male) who had documented gross motor delays. Methods . A single-subject alternating treatments design was employed. In both experiments a three session baseline phase was followed by a six session practice phase and a three session retention phase. Each session involved practicing two throwing tasks (baseball and beanbag) and four other (kicking and striking) gross motor tasks. Each throwing task was presented amidst the kicking and striking tasks in random order during the baseline and retention phases. During the acquisition phase one of the throwing tasks was practiced under blocked conditions while the other was practiced under random conditions. Data analysis. Data for each session were analyzed in terms of mean absolute error and variable error for each throwing task. Phase means and direction of change between phases for absolute error and variable error were assessed via descriptive statistics. Results. In Experiment One, three of the four children demonstrated greater retention of the motor skill that was practiced under random conditions. In Experiment Two, three of the four participants showed greater retention of accuracy for the task practiced under random conditions. Conclusions. In spite of superior performance under blocked conditions during practice more permanent motor learning of the throwing task that was practiced under random conditions was observed in for three of the four children in each experiment. Practice of motor skills under random conditions may promote greater retention of skills than drill type practice for young typically developing children and young children with Down syndrome.