Distributed and massed practice effects on motor performance and learning of autistic children

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of massed and distributed practice upon the learning by 8 autistic children of rotary pursuit tracking at 20 rpm. The massed practice group of four completed 10 30-sec. trials with 5-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the Photoelectric Pursuit Rotor. The distributed practice group completed 10 30-sec. trials with 30-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the same device. The results of a 2 x 10 x 10 (group x practice days x trials) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last two factors indicated that learning occurred for both groups but no differences between groups were significant. It is suggested that further investigations into the applicability of motor learning principles to special populations be conducted using larger groups.