A study on the effect of dual task on postural stability in children with high functional autistic disorder compared with typically developing children

Performing cognitive and motor tasks simultaneously, which is called dual task, could be a challenging topic to children with motor disorders. Since in everyday life, each person can encounter situations in which require concurrent activities, and also there are deficits in cognition and motor control among autistic children, so we aimed to investigate the effect of cognitive task on children’s postural stability.

In this study, fifteen boys with high function autism in the age range of 9-13 were recruited. Individuals with sever intellectual disabilities and other neurological or skeletal disorders were excluded. The same numbers of healthy children who were typically matched according to their sex and age with problematic children were included. Then sway parameters in the single (only standing) and dual (standing and counting) conditions were calculated with force plate.

The postural sway score was higher in autistic group than control (p <0.05). Dual task makes the sway parameters increased. These changes are statistically significant in mean velocity among patients and also RMS (root mean square) among healthy children (p <0.05).

In one hand, autistic children have more postural instability in contrast with the control group. Developmental delay or deficits in the central neural system can lead them to confront difficulties. In the other hand, the decreased postural control and increased sway in dual task, suggest the higher usage of the limited attentional capacity.