Investigating the effectiveness of a fundamental motor skill intervention of 4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience significant delays in their fundamental motor skills (FMS) yet, FMS are virtually ignored in the intervention literature as traditional therapies focus on the core challenges in the social, communicative, and behavioural domains. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of a FMS intervention at improving the motor skills, adaptive behaviour, and social skills of 4 year old children with ASD. Motor Outcomes (Manuscript 1): Results demonstrated significant improvements in motor skills following the intervention; these improvements were retained at the 6-week follow-up. Adaptive Behaviour and Social Skill Outcomes (Manuscript 2): Results demonstrated individual gains in adaptive behaviour and social skills; although no significant group improvements were found. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a FMS intervention can be effective at improving motor skills, and may result in individual behavioural improvements. These findings warrant further research with a larger sample.