The effectiveness of Kephart’s motor-perception skills training on executive functions of children with autism spectrum disorders

One of the new treatment methods studied and applied by a majority of researchers of autism is body and movement centering methodology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Kephart’s motor-perception skills training on executive functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders. The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test-post-test design applied on two experimental and control groups. The population consisted of all children aged 5-18 years old with autism in Arak city in 2019, 30 of whom were selected through the availability sampling. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in Kephart’s motor-perception skills training during twelve 12 (three sessions per week), each session for two hours, and no intervention was performed in the control group. The instrument was the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The data were analyzed using covariance analysis by SPSS software. Testing the hypothesis of the research, the effectiveness of Kephart’s motor-perception skills training on executive functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders showed that performing Kephart’s training had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on improving the executive functions of children with autism spectrum dysfunction. Therefore, as the students in the upper grades are incompatible with aspects of emotional regulation, this interaction leads to a much greater impact on their emotional problems.