Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies on the Motor Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Authors

  • Melissa Bittner California State University- Long Beach
  • Lisa Silliman-French Texas Woman’s University
  • Diane Myers Texas Woman’s University
  • David Nichols Texas Woman’s University

Keywords:

autism, evidence-based practice, picture task cards, video modeling, visual supports

Abstract

The newly adopted Every Student Succeeds Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2015) requires that school districts use evidence-based practices for student outcomes. Evidence-based practices are practices supported by empirical research that demonstrates the effectiveness of the practice with a specific group of students. There are several evidence-based practices (e.g., picture task cards [PTC], video modeling) that teachers can implement to enhance the development of fundamental motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study used an alternating treatment design to determine the impact of three types of motor performance instructional strategies (i.e., PTCs, ExerciseBuddy application [EB App], combination) on the motor performance of children with ASD. Six children (CA = 5 to 9 years) with ASD were purposively selected. The order of treatment was randomly selected and treatments were implemented for 15 min sessions three days a week for four consecutive weeks. Based on visual analysis of the data, the average of overlapping data between protocol conditions across participants approached 100%. Within the limitations of this investigation, no clear functional relation between PTCs, EB App, or combination instructional protocols and motor performance for children with ASD could be established.

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Published

2018-05-24

Issue

Section

Feature Articles