Reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2) in children with autism spectrum disorder aged 3-16 years in Tehran

Autism, as a developmental disorder, always causes problems for children in their lives and continuously leads them to isolation and away from society and finding a reliable instrument for this disorder is a need. The aim of this study was to test the reliability of theMovement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2) in children with autism spectrum disorder aged 3-16 years in Tehran.

In the current study, 100 children with autism disorder aged 3 to 16 years were selected. The instrument used in this study was the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2). The data was collected by two testers who were familiar with the test, and according to the manual of the test. The reliability between testers, test-retest reliability with a two-week interval and internal consistency reliability were calculated. All tests were two- tailed, and p < 0.01 was considered significant. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 23, SPSS).

Reliability between testers was calculated by calculating intraclass correlation coefficient for manual dexterity skill 0.973, aim and cache skill 0.948, balance Skill 0.967 and total score 0.970. In the internal reliability of the test, correlation coefficient was obtained for the skill of the manual dexterity  0.950, aim and cache skill 0.902, balance skill 0.942 and total score 0.948. To verify the internal consistency of the test, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was obtained in manual dexterity Skill 0.856, aim and cache skill 0.836, balance skill  0.924 and total score  0.917.

According to the results, theMABC-2 Test is a reliable measure to assess motor development in autistic children and adolescents in Tehran.