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Background and Study Aim. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the level of fine and gross motor skills and motor proficiency with the severity of autism disorder in children with autism. Material and Methods. 68 children with autism, ranged from 3-16 years old, were selected. Motor Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) was used to assess fine and gross motor skills and motor proficiency. Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2 (GARS-2) test was also used for assessing the severity of autism disorder in the participants. Results. The obtained results from the Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant and negative relationship between sub-scales of GARS-2 and MABC-2 tests (P<0.05). It means that decreasing the level of motor skills increases the autism severity. The results of the regression test also showed that only the total score of motor proficiency among microscales of the MABC-2 test could predict the stereotypes, social skills, communication skills, and autism severity (P<0.05). Conclusion. The results of the current study indicated the pivotal role of motor skills growth in determining the level of autism disorder. It also emphasized on embedding motor interventions in rehabilitation programs of such people.

Background & objectives: Aerobic exercise is recommended to autistic children suffering from sensory and motor disorders. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on motor skills and body composition of autistic children in Tabriz city. Methods: In this study, 40 out of 83 autistic patients diagnosed by a psychiatrist were randomly selected and assigned to experiment and control groups. The evaluation tools included the Brininx-Oresetsky Expedition Test and the Physical Fitness Machine and Intervention Tool for Aerobic Exercise. The experiment group received 12 sessions of 90 minutes of aerobic exercise, while no exercise was provided for the control group. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21 by descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, and inferential test for multivariate covariance analysis. Results: The results of the analyzed data showed a significant difference in the post-test scores between the experiment and control groups (p<0.01). Aerobic exercise improved the level of fine and elegant motor skills, and body composition as well as their components in children with autism. Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, aerobic exercise can be used as a useful and non-pharmacological action to improve the motor skills and the physical composition of children with autism.

Objectives: The physical component of tasks can be a problem because of muscle weakness; therefore, this research was performed to investigate the relationships between some physical fitness factors and muscle damage enzyme levels in people with mild Intellectual Disabilities (ID). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 314 students with ID (Body Mass Index [BMI]: 23.42±4.84 kg/m2), after measuring their anthropometric variables (height, weight, and BMI), performed the Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness (CSTF). This test includes flexibility (sit and reach test), muscle endurance (Push-ups and Sit-ups tests), muscle strength (Hand-grip test), and cardiorespiratory endurance (Canada Home Fitness test). Then saliva samples were collected from 20 subjects who were homogeneous for age (Mean±SD: 20.30±2.27 years), sex (male only), and type of ID, for measuring their saliva levels of Creatine Phosphate Kinase (CPK), Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), and C-reactive Protein (CRP). Data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation coefficient and linear and nonlinear regressions (P<0.05).  Results: The findings indicated significant relationships between some of the physical fitness factors and some enzymes of muscle damage (P<0.05). The results indicated significant relationships between CPK, with push-ups, sit-ups, and hand-grip strength, as well as between the LDH with push-ups and CRP with sit-ups and hand-grip strength (P<0.05). Discussion: According to the results of the present research, CPK, LDH, and CRP saliva levels in males with an ID have a significant relationship with some of the physical fitness components. Also, the results of the present research have provided equations for estimating CPK, LDH, and CRP saliva levels through CSTF battery test scores in people who have an educable ID.

Background: Mental imagery, incudes visualizing or motor cognitive review without physical components, is one of the sychological methods to improve performance and facilitate skills. Although the applied model has shown that there is an interaction between the type of imagery and and the ability of imagery and motor output is increased by bettter performance, there is a research gap whether neural representation causes different behavioral effects among children through vividness of imagery. Aims: The aim of present study was the effect of various types of visual and kinesthetic mental imagery on learning of close motor skill in children as well as the relationship between the ability to imagery vividness and motor performance. Methods: the research was quasi-experimental with a multi-group pre-test-post-test design along with a control group. The statistical population of the study was all female students aged 8 to 10 years in Ahvaz. 90 female students were deployed by random sampling method available in 6 groups of 15 people of physical practice (PPG), visual imagery (VIG), kinesthetic imagery (KIG), visual imagery and physical practice composition (VIPPG), kinesthetic imagery and physical practice composition (KIPPG), and control group (CG). Each participant performed 35 throws in 7 blocks of 5 trials in pre-test 5, acquisition 20, post-test 5, and transfer 5. The ability of imagery vividness of participants was measured by questionnaire of motor imagery vividness (Isak et al., 1986). Data analysis was performed using mixed variance analysis (phase) 3× (group) 6 and Pearson correlation by Spss21 software. Results:The performance of the various imagery groups was equal to that of physical practice group in the post-test (retention) phase. The results at the transfer phase showed that the combination of mental imagery with physical training had significantly higher performance than the other groups. The results of the research also showed that the visual mental imagery and kinesthetic imagery groups showed equal performance in the transfer and retention stages (KIG=VIG, KIPPG=VIPPG). The results of the research did not show any relationship between the ability of imageryvividness and motor performance. Conclusion:The results of the research showed that children have the ability to visualize motor skills the same as adults. However, children (8 to 10 years of age) do not have the ability to separate the visual and kinesthetic imagery and understand their differences. The results also showed that the ability to have a vivid imagery has no significant effect on children's motor performance.