Relation of Training in Motor Activity to Development of Right-Left Directionality in Mentally Retarded Children: Exploratory Study

The effect of a systematic program of exercises on the development of retarded children's awareness of right-left directionality was studied. The children were oriented toward observing the use of specific body parts and directed to select willfully a specified body part in making a response. Half of the children were required to also use a directional verbal label for the body part used. Ss who did not use directional verbal labels showed as much improvement as those who did. These findings suggest that the lag in development of a concept of right-left awareness found with these retarded children was not due to a deficit in verbalization per se.