The Effects of a Drums Alive Kids® Beats Intervention vis a vis Behavior on Children with Developmental Delays

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Drums Alive Kids Beats intervention could improve behavior in children with developmental delays (DD). The original pilot study that this study on behavior is linked to is titled, “The Effects of a Drums Alive Kids Beats Intervention on the Physical Performance and Motor Skills of Children with Developmental Delays,” which was published in the December edition of the Open Journal of Pediatrics (OJPED, Vol.11 No.4 2021). During the facilitation of said intervention on physical and motor skills, the facilitators noticed unanticipated improvements in behavior, both individually and as a community through better awareness, self-control, self-efficacy, social interaction, and positive energy. Therefore, while maintaining the integrity of the MOT 4 - 6 testing protocols and Drums Alive intervention, a parallel study was conducted to objectively measure six behavioral domains, namely, motivation, impulse control, coordination, concentration, implementation of tasks, and creativity using a self-designed measurement tool with three elements for each domain that was approved by Dr. Heiner Lagenkamp, Department of Sports and Physical Activities, Teaching and Research, Ruhr University, Germany. The 20 participants were German students between 5.10 and 10.2 years of age with no inclusion or exclusion characteristics who were divided into two intervention groups, IG Kindergarten (IG Kinder) and IG Elementary (IG Elem), with varied DD, i.e., transgressive behavior, ADHD, ADD, autism, anger management, visual acuity, self-control, and self-esteem. During the MOT 4 - 6 study and Drums Alive Kids Beats intervention, the facilitators monitored and assessed each participant for pre- and post-performance vis a vis behavior concurrently with physical and motoric skills. As the original study provided statistically significant improvements of between 14% - 24% in physical and motor skill performance with regards to overall scoring and 7 subdivisions of tasks, the results of this parallel study on behavior, with its 6 domains and 18 elements of between 24% - 28%, were even more compelling. The evidence indicated that the Drums Alive Kids Beats intervention with its multidisciplinary approach of music, movement, and drumming, could be used as an effective tool and therapeutic approach to improve behavior in children with developmental delays.

The Effects of a Drums Alive^®Kids Beats Intervention on the Physical Performance and Motor Skills of Children with Developmental Delays

The objective of this original pilot study was to determine if the Drums Alive® Kids Beats intervention could provide statistically significant improvements to physical and motor skill performance on participants with Developmental Delays (DD) using the Dusseldorf Motor-Proficiency-Test for children (MOT 4-6) model. The researchers selected the research-based Drums Alive Kids Beat intervention because of its multidisciplinary methodology that in previous studies demonstrated positive effects on physiological, psychological, neurological, educational, rhythmical, and socio-emotional literacy. Facilitators used standardized Drums Alive approved lesson plans and equipment to conduct the intervention through a battery of music, movement and drumming-centered exercises and activities. The 30 participants were German students between 4.9 and 10.2 years of age, without any inclusion or exclusion characteristics, who were divided into three groups consisting of two intervention groups: IG Kindergarten (IG Kinder), IG Elementary (IG Elem) with varied physical, social, and emotional DD that affected gross and fine motor skills, movement, coordination, and behavioral control;and, a Control Group (CG) that had normal physical and motor skill development (Table 1). The results of the study suggested that the Drums Alive Kids Beats intervention provided statistically significant improvements in physical and motor skill performance in children with DD, namely, 24% improvement (IG Kinder), 14% (IG Elem) vice a minor 4% improvement (CG). Of note, during this study to measure physical capability pre- and post-intervention, the facilitators noticed significant improvements in behavior in both IG groups;therefore, they chose to conduct a collateral study to measure six behavioral domains which will be documented in a future publication to demonstrate the exclusive relationship between the Drums Alive Kids Beats intervention and improvement in behavior.

Effects of a Drums Alive®Intervention versus Hand-Foot Coordination Training on Motor, Cognitive and Motivational Parameters in Seniors

This study was conducted to compare the effects of two different interventions on the physiological, cognitive, and motivational parameters in seniors;and, how they would be accepted as alternative forms of exercise in the senior population. The facilitators recruited 26 randomly selected participants from two senior care facilities in Chemnitz, Germany who were required to complete two 45-minute exercise periods a week for 30 days. The first group completed the Drums Alive intervention which included a multi-dimensional approach using music, movement, drumming choreographies, games, and activities. The second intervention group completed a series of Hand-Foot Coordination exercises that used beat-keeping patterns on various parts of the body. Each intervention group had three divisions of participants, i.e. “healthy” to define those with no diagnosed malady, “dementia” for those with varying degrees of diagnosed dementia, and, “wheelchair” and those requiring a wheelchair for movement. The pre- and post-testing measurements consisted of age, heart rate, blood pressure, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), bar-drop test, chair-raise test, 6-minute walk test, memory, concentration, balance, reaction, coordination, and cognitive flexibility. In addition, to measure the level of motivation, i.e. fun, the participants used a tool that was developed by the Psychology Department of the Chemnitz University. The results demonstrated that both interventions were suitable alternates for senior-focused conventional sports offerings, however, the Drums Alive intervention outperformed the Hand-Foot Coordination intervention in a majority of the measured domains by an overall average of 9.45 percent. Of note, the data, vis a vis motivation, demonstrated a 38.4 percent increase for Drums Alive vice a 13.3 percent increase for Hand-Foot Coordination, suggesting the Drums Alive intervention offered more effective protocols that could inspire seniors to make this a part of an overall health and wellness plan to improve their quality of life.