A Family-based Telerehabilitation Program for Improving Gross Motor Skills in Children With High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience problems in motor skills which can affect other abilities such as academic and daily life skills. In this regard, the cost of interventions and the long distance from the rehabilitation centers put pressure on the family of children with ASD. Previous studies have shown the potential for using telerehabilitation as a more affordable way to provide interventions for children with ASD. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the non-attendant family-centered Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) motor program intervention to develop gross motor skills in children with a high-function ASD.

The research is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were 9 families of children with high-functioning ASD referring to the rehabilitation centers in Tehran, Isfahan, Quds, and Kermanshah provinces, Iran. Telerehabilitation of SPARK motor program involves exercising and playing performed in 24 sessions of 45 minutes each (3 sessions per week) for 8 weeks applied for parents. The test of gross motor development-2 (TGMD-2) was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed by paired t-test.

The results showed that family-based telerehabilitation of the SPARK program significantly improved gross motor skills in children with high-functioning ASD (P<0.05).

It seems that the telerehabilitation of SPARK can be helpful for families who do not have access to rehabilitation centers.