The effects of an early motor skill intervention on motor skills, levels of physical activity, and socialization in young children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study.
Four hours of daily structured motor play for eight weeks shoots preschoolers with autism ahead in running, throwing, and peer play.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ketcheson et al. (2017) ran an 8-week pilot for preschoolers with autism.
Kids came to a center four hours each day.
Staff taught running, throwing, catching, and balance games.
A second group of kids stayed on the wait-list and got no extra motor work.
What they found
The daily group jumped far ahead in every motor test.
They ran faster, threw farther, and balanced longer than the wait-list kids.
Parents also said the children played more with peers on the playground.
How this fits with other research
Ruggeri et al. (2020) pooled 41 studies and found the same thing: motor programs help, but most are small or weak.
Wang et al. (2023) add that longer programs, 12 weeks or more, also cut social and repetitive symptoms.
That looks like a clash—Leah saw big gains in only 8 weeks.
The gap is age: Leah worked with 4- to 6-year-olds, whose brains change faster, while the meta-analysis averaged many ages.
Pan et al. (2017) show a close cousin: 12 weeks of table-tennis gave older autistic boys the same motor boost plus better focus.
Badi’ah et al. (2021) prove you can embed the drills inside regular ABA and still win.
Why it matters
You can fold 30-minute motor blocks into morning circle or recess.
Pick skills the child will use that same day—kicking a ball, climbing stairs, jumping off a step.
Track one clear measure, like number of catches or seconds on one foot, and graph it daily.
The payoff is bigger muscles and, as a bonus, more social approaches on the playground.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite evidence suggesting one of the earliest indicators of an eventual autism spectrum disorder diagnoses is an early motor delay, there remain very few interventions targeting motor behavior as the primary outcome for young children with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this pilot study was to measure the efficacy of an intensive motor skill intervention on motor skills (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), physical activity (accelerometers), and socialization (Playground Observation of Peer Engagement) in young children with autism spectrum disorder. A total of 20 children with autism spectrum disorder aged 4-6 years participated. The experimental group ( n = 11) participated in an 8-week intervention consisting of motor skill instruction for 4 h/day, 5 days/week. The control group ( n = 9) did not receive the intervention. A repeated-measures analysis of covariance revealed statistically significant differences between groups in all three motor outcomes, locomotor ( F(1, 14) = 10.07, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.42), object control ( F(1, 14) = 12.90, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.48), and gross quotient ( F(1, 14) = 15.61, p < 0.01, partial η2 = 0.53). Findings shed light on the importance of including motor programming as part of the early intervention services delivered to young children with autism spectrum disorder.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2017 · doi:10.1177/1362361316650611