Fundamental Motor Skill Interventions for Children and Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: a Literature Review

Colombo-Dougovito, Andrew M.; Block, Martin E.

doi:10.1007/s40489-019-00161-2

Cited by 53 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the literature is at a very early stage, some preliminary qualitative suggestions can be drawn from the reviewed studies. With respect to the first goal, the results of the present review are in line and extend those of Colombo-Dugovito and Block [ 28 ] and of Case and Yun [ 29 ], suggesting that specific FMS interventions could have a beneficial effect on the motor proficiency of autistic children. Indeed, nine of the ten reviewed studies reported significant improvements in a range of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, locomotor activity, and body coordination.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The form of the general search strategy was the following: ([motor] AND [intervention] AND [autism] OR [autism spectrum disorders]). In the present review, studies were included if they involved motor intervention that fulfilled the definition provided by Colombo-Dagouvito and Block [ 28 ] and that specifically addressed FMS. Other inclusion criteria were (a) participants were 3–12 years old and (b) specific fine and/or gross motor intervention.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the interventions involve FMS only marginally and instead focus on physical aerobic exercise, educational games, and sports, with moderately positive benefits reported in almost all studies (for reviews on this topic, see [ 6 , 25 , 26 ], for meta-analyses [ 24 , 27 ]). Interestingly, one systematic review [ 28 ] and one meta-analysis [ 29 ] have been performed in the last year focusing on the effect of specific interventions on FMS and gross motor skills. While reporting a positive effect of motor interventions on FMS and gross motor skills, both works provided useful insights to start developing a specific guideline for building future interventional studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While reporting a positive effect of motor interventions on FMS and gross motor skills, both works provided useful insights to start developing a specific guideline for building future interventional studies. Namely, Colombo-Dagouvito and Block [ 28 ] very precisely defined a motor intervention as “an intentional and directed manipulation of motor skills through a set procedure taking place over a defined period of time to develop an overall change in motor skill performance” (p. 162). On the other hand, Case and Yun [ 29 ] clearly demonstrated that interventions that were 16 total hours or longer had a significantly larger effect than those shorter than 16 h. Furthermore, the authors also indicated that interventions in experimental settings were more effective than ones in practical settings [ 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the current stage of literature and starting from these recent suggestions, the primary goal of the present study was to summarize the studies on FMS interventions in autistic children in the past 10 years to delineate the strengths and weaknesses of the previous programs and to continue encouraging future research in this field. Being exploratory in nature, this work did not plan to exhaustively review all interventional studies addressing FMS as recently done [ 28 , 29 ]. Our focus was rather to discuss the most recent evidence also in light of the advances in autism-related research in the last 10 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 10-Year Narrative Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the past decade, converging evidence has suggested that motor impairment is one of the most consistent markers, alongside sociocommunicative difficulties, for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Indeed, widespread anomalies of movement have been described in the ASD context. These motor abnormalities could have critical implications for subsequent cognitive and social development. Nevertheless, this area of development is particularly underexamined in the autism-related context, and early intervention programs commonly focus on the core symptoms of the condition. In the present work, we review and discuss the findings from recent studies that investigated the effect of interventions regarding fundamental motor skills in autistic children. Although the limited nature of the literature prevents researchers from drawing definitive conclusions, the results from the studies discussed here demonstrated potentially significant improvements in the motor abilities of autistic children after the interventions. Only a subset of the reviewed studies explored possible changes in the sociocommunicative domain after the motor skills improvements, and they had not concordant, although promising, conclusions. Overall, in consideration of the well-documented motor impairment people with the condition, the present findings highlight the importance of including motor skills training within the rehabilitation programs designed for autistic children. Furthermore, this narrative review encourages future interventional trials to consider motor skills as a possible target for reducing activity limitations and participation restrictions of autistic children.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 10-Year Narrative Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

A randomized parent‐mediated physical activity intervention for autistic children

Prieto,

Meera,

Barry

et al. 2023

Autism Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this study was to examine the immediate and post effects of a parentmediated physical activity intervention on the fundamental motor skills of autistic children. We randomly assigned parent-child dyads (n = 31) of autistic children aged 4-11 years into three groups (workshop, an online, or control group). Each dyad participated in a 12-week intervention and was given adapted physical activity equipment and over 200 activities via a mobile application. Children were tested at the start and end of the intervention. The effect size (Cohen's d) of the control group for pre-post locomotor and ball skill scores were 0.12 and 0.06, respectively, indicating small effect size. The effect size of the online group for pre-post locomotor and ball skill scores were 49 and 0.26, respectively, indicating medium and small effect sizes. The effect size of the in-person group for pre-post locomotor and ball skill scores were 1.18 and 0.82, respectively, indicating large effect sizes. The outcomes of this physical activity intervention suggest that parents may facilitate the acquisition of fundamental motor skills of their autistic children. Although these results are positive, there is a need to further identify effective interventions for fundamental motor skill development in autistic children. Clinical Trials ID: NCT05159102. Lay SummaryAutistic children can benefit a lot from regular physical activity. Some of these benefits include being healthy and meeting new friends. Regular physical activity can also lead to being on sports teams. But most people agree that you need to be good at activities, like throwing, kicking, Parents can help their autistic children learn activities like throwing, kicking, and running, which are also known as fundamental motor skills. In this study, 31 families were randomly assigned to one group. Each family participated in either the workshop, the online, or the control group. Families in the workshop and online groups completed a 12-week physical activity program. Each participant received adapted physical activity equipment. They also received a mobile application with over 200 activities. The workshop group also attended four in-person workshops. The workshops focused on the needs of autistic children and their parents. The online group attended the workshops via Zoom. We tested children on their fundamental motor skills before and after the program. Parents of autistic children are their children's first teachers. Yet, they may not have the skills to teach their children how to do physical activity. So, our purpose was to focus on teaching parents of autistic children. As a result, children in this study improved their fundamental motor skills. This finding can help inform future programs for parents of autistic children.

show abstract

Sustainable Community Health

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

If we want to achieve the goal of sustainable community health, it is imperative to address the broad and multi-level context in which these communities are situated. Understanding and integrating the context (or many contexts) of a community is a challenging task, and this timely volume tackles this issue headon. Drawing on many disciplines and perspectives, this text both integrates strong theoretical perspectives and relies on evidence and pragmatic implementational realities. In doing so, it provides a thoughtful and practical guide for how to build and sustain communities that are active agents in their own health and well-being. I recommend this to anyone seeking to better understand and/ or implement community health programs." -

show abstract

Fundamental Motor Skill Interventions for Children and Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: a Literature Review

Cited by 53 publications

References 65 publications

Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 10-Year Narrative Review

Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 10-Year Narrative Review

A randomized parent‐mediated physical activity intervention for autistic children

Sustainable Community Health

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About