Effect of Motion Imagery on Visual Motor Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Control Trial

Abstract

Background: Comprehension and visual-motor integration skills are still widely used in the psychological assessments of children. Recent evidence suggests that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might have a general impairment in visual motion perception. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of motion imagery on visual motor perception in children with ASD. Methods: In a before and after clinical trial study, 30 children with ASD were divided into two groups of 15 subjects, test and control. The intervention group received 3 sessions of 60 minutes per week for 15 weeks with movement visualization exercises. Before and after the intervention and after the follow-up period, visual motor perception and motor imagery questionnaires were completed and implemented. The data were analyzed using SPSS22 software (P ≤ 0.05). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine the normality of the data, and variance analysis was used to compare the averages of the two groups before and after the intervention and follow-up. Results: The results obtained in all subscales of motor imagery with P = 0.001 indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the pre-test and post-test scores. Additionally, the results obtained concerning visual motor perception showed that in all the subscales with P < 0.001, statistically significant differences could be observed after the intervention and in the 3 months of follow-up. Conclusions: Motion visualization is an easy and accessible method that has positive and effective effects on visual-motor perception skills. Treatment practitioners can use this method to improve ASD children.