Date of Graduation

12-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Health, Human Performance and Recreation

Advisor/Mentor

Cathy Lirgg

Committee Member

Dean Gorman

Second Committee Member

Sharon Hunt

Third Committee Member

Jack Kern

Fourth Committee Member

Mounir Farah

Keywords

ASD, Autism, Kinesiology, Motor Skills, Video Modeling

Abstract

Beside the main syndromes of socialization and communication for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, they also have impairments in motor skills, such as ball skills (catching and throwing) and postural stability (standing and walking balance). The main objective of this dissertation is to improve motor skills for preschooler children with ASD through use of video-modeling techniques. A secondary objective of this research was to find a correlation between the development and improvement of ball skills and balance tasks. Twenty-six children with ASD were divided into two groups. Twenty-six children with ASD from 3-5 years old participated in two groups: one using video-modeling and another using live-demonstrations as early interventions. Four independent variables of motor skills were used in this study, including catching, throwing, standing and walking balance, throughout 10 sessions. Each session included four blocks with which to practice each motor skill in about 60 minutes. The results of this study indicated that there were positive improvements for the video-modeling group in the performance of ball skills (catching and throwing) and balance tasks (standing and walking) with significant correlation between the development of ball skills and balance tasks. The findings of this study contribute to knowledge regarding the development of motor skills for children with ASD, and they provides caregivers who are working with children, such as physical education teachers, therapists, and parents, video modeling as a teaching strategy to enhance the motor skills as an early intervention.

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