Effects of Perceptual Exercise Program on Basic Motor Skills in Children and Adolescents with Autism Disorder

This study aimed to investigate the perceptual exercise program on basic motor skills in children and adolescents with autism disorder. To achieve the study objectives, perceptual exercise program was applied to 10 children group and 10 adolescent group with autism, 60 minutes per session, twice a week for 32 weeks. To evaluate the basic motor skills of the subjects before and after the exercise, they were measured in six areas of operational skills including throwing, catching, kicking, hitting, bouncing, and rolling; two areas of movement skills including balance beam, walking backward; and two areas of stabilization skills including standing with one leg and escaping. The study results were analyzed with matching sample T-test and independent sample T-test, as follows. First, test group showed the significant changes on all areas of operational skills (throwing p=.000, catching p=.000, kicking p=.001, hitting p=,000, bouncing p=.000, and rolling p=.000), while control group showed the significant changes only on four areas (catching p=.005, kicking p=.001, hitting p=.037, and rolling p=.015). Second, test group showed the significant changes on two areas of movement skills (balance beam p=.001 and walking backward p=.000), while control group showed some improvement but not significant. Third, test group showed the significant changes on two areas of stabilization skills (standing with one leg p=.003 and escaping p=.000), while control group showed the significant change only on escaping (p=.037). Fourth, significant changes were found only in the operational skills (catching p=.012, bouncing p=.004 and rolling p=.028) between both groups after the intervention. In summary, perceptual exercise program showed the effects on the exercise in the students with autism who have different school grades. Degree of improvement by exercise seems to show more positive effects in the children period than in the adolescent period.