The objective of this descriptive study was to analyze the perceived physical competence of children with mild mental retardation in relation to different ages and genders as well as to compare the perceived physical competence of children that practice and children that don't practice physical or sports activities. The sample consisted of 76 children. The instruments used were the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Physical Competence for Children with Mental Retardation, a questionnaire assessing the practice of physical activities or sports out of school and another questionnaire assessing the activities in school. The results suggested that children with mild mental retardation have high perceived physical competence; no significant difference emerged among the genders; 12-year-old children presented lower perceived physical competence than children who were 7, 8 and 9 years old; children that engage in physical exercises or sports have smaller perceived physical competence than those that don't engage in physical activities. The findings suggested that the practice of physical or sports exercises can be seen as an aspect responsible for children's judgment criteria for perception of competence, helping to build more exact and realistic evaluation parameters.
Special Education; Perceived Competence; Children; Mental Retardation
