Effects of Horticultural Activities in Consideration of Daily Physical Rhythms on Adaptive Behavior of Children with Developmental Delay

This study tries to examine effects of a program of horticultural activities on young children with developmental delay attending an exclusive daycare center for disabled children. The subjects participating in the activities were 16 children attending S Exclusive Daycare Center for Disabled Children, with 8 in the control group and the other 8 i n the experimental group. The program of horticultural activities was carried out 18 times in total with 3 sessions per week for 30 minutes from October 15 to November 22 in 2012. As a result of the overall evaluation of their adaptive behavior, in the case of the control group, the average increased by 1.00 from 65.00 before the program up to 66.00 after the program, while the average increased by 19.50 from 66.00 before up to 85.50 after in the experimental group. Given that in the experimental group, the conceptual adaptive behavior increased from 64.00 up to 80.75, the social adaptive behavior from 65.50 up to 80.63, and the practical adaptive behavior from 74.38 up to 95.38, we can see significant improvement in all the items after the execution of the horticultural activities. From such research results, it has turned out that the program of horticultural activities which was designed in consideration of day-based changes in the children’s physical rhythms, their interest and effectiveness is effective on the promotion of the adaptive behavior of young children with developmental delay attending an exclusive daycare center for disabled children.