Dear Colleagues,

Physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QoL) are major factors in three common and often co-occurring neorodevelopmental disorders: developmental coordination disorder (DCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

A wide variety of interventions are used to support children and adolescents with these neurodevelopmental disorders and the ultimate goal of the interventions is to lessen the impact of the disorder on well-being and daily functioning. Motor competence and motor proficiency play an important role in growth and development and opens up opportunities that lead to a physically active lifestyle. Outdoor play and sport-like games into the right environment with structured activities to experience the fun of moving, give the opportunities to practice and learn motor skills. Feeling more competent will motivate children and adolescents with motor coordination problems to participate in a variety of physical activities without the stress of embarrassment and instead with feelings of perceived motor competence. Furthermore, participating in active play is an option for making friends and developing the social skills.

Given your interest in the theme, we invite specialists and scholars in this field to submit scientific reports that directly and indirectly deal with this Special Issue. Researchers and practitioners should describe the efforts to develop innovative methodologies or inclusive education methodologies focused on physical education-based interventions. These interventions will aim to increase the cognitive-motor, social-emotional and communication impact from the participation of people with these difficulties in physical education programs. Additionally, they’ll help educators to plan and implement developmentally appropriate programs that will correspond to the individual needs of each student. 

We welcome theoretical and/or empirical contributions that can broaden knowledge on physical education-based intervention models, adapted special education procedures applied in institutional contexts, and modern approaches of exercise training to children and adolescents with the mentioned above neurodevelopmental disorders.

Prof. Dr. Dimitra Koutsouki
Dr. Katerina Asonitou
Guest Editors

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• developmental coordination disorder (DCD)
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
• autism
• neurodevelopmental disorders
• motor skills
• comorbidity
• intervention
• special needs education
• physical activity
• intensive activity
• games
• sports
• motor competence
• motor proficiency
• adapted physical activity
• adapted physical education program
• curricula
• exercise training
• physical education curricula
• physical activity training