Effects of Creative Movement, General Movement, or Seated Play Interventions on Motor Performance in Children with...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit significant gross motor challenges.
• Current ASD interventions frequently overlook gross motor skill development, focusing instead on communication and fine motor abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of whole-body motor interventions on gross and fine motor outcomes in children with ASD.
• To compare the effectiveness of Creative Movement (CM) and General Movement (GM) interventions against a Sedentary Play (SP) control group.

Main Methods:

• A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 45 children with ASD (mean age 8.7 years, 38 males).
• Participants were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of CM, GM, or SP interventions.
• Motor outcomes assessed included gross/fine motor coordination, locomotor skills, functional endurance, and praxis/imitation performance.

Main Results:

• Both CM and GM interventions demonstrated medium-to-large improvements in gross motor performance, including coordination, agility, and endurance.
• The CM group showed additional improvements in praxis performance.
• The SP group exhibited improvements in fine motor skills, as expected.

Conclusions:

• Whole-body motor interventions, specifically CM and GM, are effective in enhancing gross motor skills in children with ASD.
• It is recommended that researchers and clinicians integrate gross motor skill-focused, whole-body interventions into the care plans for children with ASD.