Effect of a Selected Physical Activity Program on the Development of Motor Skills in Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism (HFA) Children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a selected physical activity program on the development of motor skills in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and high functioning autism (HFA). In this semiexperimental research, 20 children (8.8+0.7 years old) with HFA and 10 children (7.9+1.4 years old) with ADHD based on pretest scores were randomly selected. Bruininks – Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (BOTMP) for children with ADHD and test of gross motor developmental – 2 for children with HFA were used. Selected motor program (SPARK motor program) which included motor strengthening activities, games and sports for children was performed 18 sessions for ADHD children and 12 sessions for HFA children. K-S test to determine the normality of data distribution and statistical t tests, Levene test and covariate analysis were used to compare the means. The results showed the selected program made significant changes in most variables in ADHD and HFA children in experiment group but not in control group. According to the results of this research, it is suggested that the selected physical activity program (SPARK) can improve motor skills in children with ADHD and HFA.

Keywords

• attention deficit
• high functioning autism
• hyperactivity disorder
• motor skills.
• selected motor program