Background & objectives : Different types of practises are known for improving motor skills in intellectually disabled boys. The purpose of this study was to compar e the impact of spark motor program and basketball on improving of gross motor skills in this people.

  Methods: In this semi-experimental study , from 98 educable intellectually disabled students who studied in special school in Urmia, 30 children ( age range of 9 to 13 years and IQ mean 64.4 ) were selected objectively and divided in three groups (2 experimental and 1 control) based on pre - test. BOTMP was used as a measurement of motor ability. Selected motor program (Spark motor program) including strengthening training, games, sports and basketball techniques was performed for 24 sessions. T-tests (dependent) and co-variance were used to comparison of results.

  Results: In Spark group after 24 sessions, there were significant effects on balance (p= 0.000), bilateral coordination (p=0.000) and strength (p=0.001). There was no significant effect in agility and speed (p= 0.343) in basketball techniques group after 24 sessions, there were significant effects in agility and speed (p= 0.001), balance (p= 0.000), bilateral coordination (p= 0.013) and strength (p= 0.007).

  Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be claimed that the Spark program and basketball techniques improve gross motor skills in educable intellectually disabled students. We also found a significant difference between the Spark program and basketball techniques efficacy on the improved skills. Furthermore, the efficacy of Spark program was significantly higher than basketball techniques (p<0.05).