Effect of Postural Training in Improving Hand Eye Coordination in Autism Children - An Interventional Study

Abstract

Autism is one of the major developmental delays that affect the children at an early age. It presents as a series of motor and sensory impairments that constantly needs adjustment in posture. Evaluation of motor skills and enhancing it quite often results in postural adjustment. The primary objective of this current study is to investigate the effect of postural training exercises prior to administration of motor activities in improving the hand eye coordination to perform upper limb tasks. The study was a randomised control trial that included children of both sexes with a diagnosis of autism between the age group of 5 and 10. All the participants of the study underwent the pre-test assessment of Gross motor skill and fine motor skill and were entered in the data sheet as pre-test score. The children’s Gross motor skill and Fine Motor Skill were assessed through Box and Block test and 25 grooved peg board test respectively. The test was performed for the dominant hand of the participant. The participants in control group underwent the motor and fine motor activities for a period of 30 minutes each session on alternate days for 8 weeks. The participants in experimental group received postural stability exercises along with these activities. At the end of 8 weeks the results of the study showed significant improvement in the experimental group. The study concluded that postural stability exercises prior to the activities improved the motor and fine motor skill of the autism children. Keywords: Autism, Postural Exercises in autism children, Hand eye coordination, Postural instability.