The Effect of Active Video Games on the Learning of Dart Throwing Skill in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of active video games on the learning of dart throwing skill in children with autism spectrum disorder. In this semi-experimental study, 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (level 1) in Ahvaz city were purposively selected and randomly assigned to three equal groups (real practice, virtual practice, and control). Firstly, the dart throwing pretest was performed with 10 real trials. Then, the practice groups practiced for 4 sessions during 2 weeks and 30 trials (3 blocks of 10 trials) per session in the acquisition stage. After the last acquisition session, the posttest was performed by 10 trials and retention test was performed after 24 hours. Finally, the transfer test was performed with the counterbalance manner in both environments for all three groups 30 minutes after the retention test. Data were analyzed by mix analysis of variance and post hoc tests at P≤0.05 using SPSS22 software. The results showed a significant difference between the two practice groups in the acquisition stage (P≤0.01) and the virtual group had better performance than the real group. Also, the results indicated that real and virtual groups had better performance than the control group in the retention and transfer tests, and the virtual group had better progress than the real group in the mean scores of dart throwing. In general, the results showed that active video games improved performance and learning of dart throwing in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Keywords

• autism
• dart
• kinect
• virtual environment
• x-box