Improving motor skill acquisition through analogy in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Analogy benefits motor learning in children. The present study was to examine the effectiveness of analogy motor learning in children with ASD. Children (N = 48) diagnosed with ASD were randomly assigned to one of four groups: visual analogy, verbal analogy, explicit instruction and control. All groups, except the control group, were given instruction regarding a modified basketball-shooting task through acquisition phase. Results showed that all instruction groups were learning the skill in a similar manner. During retention and transfer tests, performance deteriorated for the verbal analogy, explicit instruction and control groups but not for the visual analogy group when comparing to the performance during the last block of learning phase. This study suggests that visual analogy may be a good instructional option to aid motor learning in children with ASD.