BackgroundActive video games (AVGs) encourage whole body movements to interact or control the gaming system, allowing the opportunity for skill development. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show decreased fundamental movement skills in comparison with their typically developing (TD) peers and might benefit from this approach. This pilot study investigates whether playing sports AVGs can increase the actual and perceived object control (OC) skills of 11 children with ASD aged 6–10 years in comparison to 19 TD children of a similar age. Feasibility was a secondary aim.MethodsActual (Test of Gross Motor Development) and perceived OC skills (Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children) were assessed before and after the intervention (6 × 45 min).ResultsActual skill scores were not improved in either group. The ASD group improved in perceived skill. All children completed the required dose and parents reported the intervention was feasible.ConclusionThe use of AVGs as a play-based intervention may not provide enough opportunity for children to perform the correct movement patterns to influence skill. However, play of such games may influence perceptions of skill ability in children with ASD, which could improve motivation to participate in physical activities.
An experiment is reported that investigated the effects of contextual interference on motor skill acquisition, and transfer of training in Down’s syndrome adolescents. Twenty Down’s syndrome adolescents and 20 nonhandicapped mental age controls learned a coincident anticipation timing task using either a random or a blocked training schedule. For transfer to a novel but similar task, subjects from both populations evidenced beneficial effects due to random practice. These data are discussed in terms of recent developments for strategy enhancement in motor learning by mentally retarded individuals.
By means of a sensory conditioning procedure, auditory ‘hallucinations’ were produced in a set of subjects by pairing a light and a tone. The effect of two doses of scopolamine on the occurrence of these hallucinations was investigated, and the results showed that they were more likely to occur after scopolamine than when subjects had received a placebo. This change was attributed to the impairment of information processing induced by scopolamine.
A sequential finger-lifting task was used to examine asymmetries in intermanual transfer of training and motor overflow in Down's syndrome adults and young, nonhandicapped children. Both groups exhibited more interlimb transfer of training from the left hand to the right hand than the reverse. This finding provides evidence for left-hemisphere specialization for the organization and control of sequential movement. While the motor overflow results were less compelling, they provide some evidence for left-hemisphere dominance for movement control in Down's syndrome persons. It is suggested that perhaps the same neural mechanisms are responsible for motor overflow and transfer of training asymmetries.
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