Effects of an Inclusive Physical Activity Program on the Motor Skills, Social Skills and Attitudes of Students with and
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Effects of an Inclusive Physical Activity Program on the Motor Skills, Social Skills and Attitudes of Students with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder Ahmet Sansi1 · Sibel Nalbant2 · Dilara Ozer3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study investigated the effects of an inclusive physical activity (IPA) program on the motor and social skills and attitudes of students with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study sample consisted of 45 ASD and typical development (TD) students aged between 6 and 11 years. The students were randomly divided into two groups: a training group consisting of 27 students (n = 13 with ASD and n = 14 with TD) and a control group consisting of 18 students (n = 9 with ASD and n = 9 with TD). In conclusion, the IPA program increased the motor and social skills of the ASD students and improved the motor skills of the TD students and positively affected their attitudes towards the ASD students. Keywords Attitude · Autism spectrum disorder · Inclusive physical activity · Motor skill · Social skill
Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication difficulties and restricted, and repetitive patterns of behaviours (APA 2013). Motor impairment is not part of the diagnosis of ASD, however 79–83% of children who have ASD do not display the appropriate motor skills of their age group (Green et al. 2009; Hilton et al. 2012). Children with ASD, compared to typically developing (TD) controls, have a variety of poor motor skills (Crucitti et al. 2019) such as kicking or catching a ball, balancing and jumping (Green et al. 2009; Staples and Reid 2010). Children with ASD may have difficulty performing age-appropriate motor skills due to having low muscle tone, impairments in postural control and motor planning and coordination disorder (Shillingsburg et al. 2015). Studies have shown that * Ahmet Sansi [email protected] 1
Vocational School of Health Services, Batman University, Batman, Turkey
2
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Antalya, Turkey
3
Faculty of Health Sciences, İstanbul Kent University, İstanbul, Turkey
the participation of children with ASD in inclusive physical activities (IPA) with their peers makes the application of the activities easier (Ward and Ayvazo 2006), supports the social, medical (Block et al. 1995) and motor skill development (Schleien et al. 1988; Hutzler and Margalit 2009; Pan 2011) of these children. The difficulties children with ASD experience regarding the application of their age appropriate motor skills can limit their participation in activities such as playing with their peers in parks, at school, in the streets, which support the development of their communication and interaction skills (Bhat et al. 2011). MacDonald et al. (2013) stated that the weak social skills of individuals with ASD were also found lower in motor skill deficits. Participation in IPA, which is
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