Observational practice intervention for improving visual search behaviour, quiet eye and motor performance in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Since autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that is considered a major emerging public health issue, this study investigated the effect of observational practice on visual search behaviour, quiet eye and motor performance in overarm throwing skills in children with and without ASD. Children aged 7-10 years with and without ASD were matched for gender and randomly assigned into an experimental group (EG) with children with ASD (n=10; 8 boys and 2 girls), control group (CG) with children with ASD (n=10; 7 boys and 3 girls); EG with children without ASD (n=10; 7 boys and 3 girls) or CG with children without ASD (n=10; 7 boys and 3 girls). While all groups were homogenous at pre-test, results indicated that both EGs that performed visual exercises were found to have significant (p<0.05) improvements in throwing accuracy, visual search behaviour and duration of quiet eye. No such improvements were found in both CGs at the conclusion of the study. Visual exercises could be a useful tool to improve motor learning in children with ASD in school- and physical therapy settings, and may be used to improve speech/language skills, and social communication skills in children with ASD.