Effect of perceptual-motor practices on motor and mathematical skills of autistic children

As motor activities improve perceptual system, play an important role in advancement of educational and social skills. Autistic children are often suffering from some learning problems. The present study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of perceptual-motor practices on motor and mathematical skills of an autistic child. In thissingle subject design study, an 8 year old autistic boy without any physical problem participated, after getting an informed consent in Tehran in 2009. Lincon-Oseretsky and Key-met tests were used to measure motor and mathematical skills respestively. At first, base line information were gathered in 6 sessions. Then 20 sessions of perceptual-motor practices were administered, based on 7 main axises, including body awareness, motor planning, bilateral motor integration, balance skills, fine motor coordination, functional vision skills, and oral-motor skills. Data were analyzed through Percentage of Non-overlaping Data (PND) method. Effect sizes of perceptual-motor practices on motor and mathematics skills were 0.95 and 0.1 Appropriate perceptual-motor practices acceptablly improve motor skills in autistic children, while they hardly affect mathematical skills. How ever it seems better that autistic students’ learning programes include motor practices.