An Investigation of Motor Skills of 8- to 12-Year-Old Children With Autism Spectrum DIsorder Compared to Typically Developing Peers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the gross motor skills of 8-to 12-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison with their typically developing (TD) peers. The research group consisted of a total of 95 participants between the ages of 8-12, 45 students diagnosed with ASD and 50 TD students attending Special Education Practice Schools. Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Competence Test 2 (BOT-2) and Gilliam Autistic Disorder Rating Scale-2 Turkish version (GARS-2 TV) were used as data collection means. In the analysis of the data, Mann Whitney U test was used for two-group comparisons of parameters that don't not show normal distribution. Spearman correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between variables. As a result of the study, bilateral coordination, balance, agility, agility, strength, upper extremity coordination skills and total gross motor scores of children with ASD were found to be lower than those of TD children (p0.05). Further, no signifi- cant relation was found between the GARS-2-TV and BOT-2 scores of the children with ASD. The development of gross motor skills is important for children to gain movement competence and interact with their environment and other children. The design and implementation of appropriate intervention programs to support motor skills can only be possible with the identification and understanding of existing motor deficits.