Imitation Abilities Research Articles

Effects of physical activity Cognitive-Behavior program on physical activity Pattern and Motion Cognitive Imitation Ability in Children with ADHD in Elementary School

Effects of physical activity Cognitive-Behavior program on physical activity Pattern and Motion Cognitive Imitation Ability in Children with ADHD in Elementary School

The clinical effects of Orff music therapy on children with autism spectrum disorder: a comprehensive evaluation.

This study aimed to investigate the clinical effects of Orff music therapy on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from the perspectives of parents, evaluators, and therapists. 93 children with ASD aged 3-6 years participated in the study. They were divided into an observation group (n = 48) receiving comprehensive rehabilitation intervention including Orff music therapy, and a control group (n = 45) receiving only comprehensive rehabilitation intervention. The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), and Psycho-educational Profile-3rd edition (PEP-3) were used for assessments before and after the intervention. There were no significant demographic differences between the two groups. Both groups showed significant improvements in Sensory, Relating, Language, CVP, EL, RL, VMI, AE, SR, and CARS scores at T1, T2, and T3 (T1 vs. T2, T2 vs. T3, T1 vs. T3) (all p < 0.05). The observation group demonstrated significant changes in Body and Object use and FM, while the control group showed some changes in these domains. Social and self-help, GM, CMB, and CVB also significantly improved in both groups after 6 months of intervention (all p < 0.05). In terms of different time intervals, the observation group showed greater improvements in Sensory, Relating, Language, CARS scores, EL, RL, and SR compared to the control group (all p < 0.05). The improvement levels in Body and Object use, CVP, FM, VMI, and AE did not differ significantly between the two groups in the T1-T2 interval, but were significantly higher in the observation group in the T2-T3 and T1-T3 intervals (all p < 0.05). The magnitude of changes in Social and self-help, GM, CMB, and CVB did not differ significantly between the groups. Orff music therapy showed significant improvements in language expression, language comprehension, social skills, cognitive abilities, imitation abilities, emotional expression and fine motor in children with ASD. These findings provide support for the use of Orff music therapy as an effective intervention for children with ASD.

Exploring the use of projected videos to test action matching from different perspectives in dogs.

Dogs trained with the Do as I Do method can imitate human actions upon request, but their ability to match actions observed from different perspectives remains unknown. The use of 2D video stimuli may enable researchers to systematically manipulate the perspective from which demonstrations are observed, thereby widening the range of methods available to study cognitive skills related to imitation. In this study, we explore the possibility of using 2D stimuli to test action matching in dogs, including when demonstrations are seen from different perspectives. We examined two dogs' imitative performance using videos projected on a screen; while, the owner interacted with the dog remotely through an online meeting software. The dogs were first trained to match human actions seen on a screen frontally, and then were tested when the projected demonstrations were seen frontally, from the side, and from above. Results revealed that both dogs matched the demonstrated actions from frontal and, notably, also from side perspectives, at least to some extent, consistent with familiarity of their daily interactions with humans. However, action matching from an above perspective presented challenges, indicating the potential influence of observational experience and highlighting the importance of perspective manipulation when investigating imitation abilities. These findings show that it is possible to use 2D videos to test imitation in dogs, thereby expanding the potential methodologies to study imitation and other related cognitive skills.

On computational models of theory of mind and the imitative reinforcement learning in spiking neural networks.

Theory of Mind is referred to the ability of inferring other's mental states, and it plays a crucial role in social cognition and learning. Biological evidences indicate that complex circuits are involved in this ability, including the mirror neuron system. The mirror neuron system influences imitation abilities and action understanding, leading to learn through observing others. To simulate this imitative learning behavior, a Theory-of-Mind-based Imitative Reinforcement Learning (ToM-based ImRL) framework is proposed. Employing the bio-inspired spiking neural networks and the mechanisms of the mirror neuron system, ToM-based ImRL is a bio-inspired computational model which enables an agent to effectively learn how to act in an interactive environment through observing an expert, inferring its goals, and imitating its behaviors. The aim of this paper is to review some computational attempts in modeling ToM and to explain the proposed ToM-based ImRL framework which is tested in the environment of River Raid game from Atari 2600 series.

Individual Differences in Accent Imitation.

All talkers show some flexibility in their speech, and the ability to imitate an unfamiliar accent is a skill that shows vast individual differences. Yet the source of these individual differences, in particular whether they originate from perceptual, motor, or social/personality factors, is not yet clear. In the current study, we ask how individual differences in these factors predict individual differences in deliberate accent imitation. Participants imitated three accents, and attempts were rated for accuracy. A set of measures tracking individual differences in perceptual, motor, cognitive, personality, and demographic factors were also acquired. Imitation ability was related to differences in musical perception, vocal articulation, and the personality characteristic of "openness to experience," and was affected by attitudes towards the imitated talkers. Taken together, results suggest that deliberate accent imitation skill is modulated not only by core perceptual and motor skills, but also by personality and affinity to the talker, suggesting that some aspects of deliberate imitation are a function of domain-general constraints on perceptual-motor systems, while others may be modulated by social context.

Decreased wrist rotation imitation abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder.

While meaningless gross motor imitation (GMI) is a common challenge for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this topic has not attracted much attention and few appropriate test paradigms have been developed. The current study proposed a wrist rotation imitation (WRI) task (a meaningless GMI assignment), and established a WRI ability evaluation system using low-cost wearable inertial sensors, which acquired the simultaneous data of acceleration and angular acceleration during the WRI task. Three metrics (i.e., total rotation time, rotation amplitude, and symmetry) were extracted from those data of acceleration and angular acceleration, and then were adopted to construct classifiers based on five machine learning (ML) algorithms, including k-nearest neighbors, linear discriminant analysis, naive Bayes, support vector machines, and random forests. To illustrate our technique, this study recruited 49 ASD children (aged 3.5-6.5 years) and 59 age-matched typically developing (TD) children. Findings showed that compared with TD children, those with ASD may exhibit shorter total rotation time, lower rotation amplitude, and weaker symmetry. This implies that children with ASD might exhibit decreased WRI abilities. The classifier with the naive Bayes algorithm outperformed than other four algorithms, and achieved a maximal classification accuracy of 88% and a maximal AUC value of 0.91. Two metrics (i.e., rotation amplitude and symmetry) had high correlations with the gross and fine motor skills [evaluated by Gesell Developmental Schedules-Third Edition and Psychoeducational Profile-3 (PEP-3)]. While, the three metrics had no significant correlation with the visual-motor imitation abilities (evaluated by the subdomain of PEP-3) and the ASD symptom severity [evaluated by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)] . The strengths of this study are associated with the low-cost measurement system, correlation between the WRI metrics and clinical measures, decreased WRI abilities in ASD, and high classification accuracy.

Verbal Imitation in Late Talkers

Objectives: This study was to examine the spoken language imitation abilities of 18 to 29 month old late-talking children to compared to typically developing children through the imitation of words and nonwords.Methods: The study included 15 late-talking children and 15 typically developing children matched for age and gender. The test words were 12 words and 12 nonwords, and spoken imitation was elicited by providing corresponding toys or references. Responses were categorized as correct, incorrect, or no response. Incorrect responses were further classified into whole-word errors, segmental errors, babbling, and different vocabulary responses. Whole-word errors and segmental errors were again classified into developmental and non-developmental error patterns.Results: Late-talking children exhibited significantly lower correct response ratios and higher no response ratios in verbal imitation of words and nonwords compared to typically developing children. Late-talking children had approximately 50% of their responses as no response, while typically developing children showed low ratios of no response. Both late-talking and typically developing children demonstrated better verbal imitations of words than of nonwords. Although whole-word errors were the most frequent in both groups during the verbal imitation of words, but late-talking children had higher rates of babbling responses for both words and nonwords imitation.Conclusion: This study confirmed that late-talking children exhibited limited verbal imitation abilities. Responses made by late-talking children may provide insights into their speech and language development status. Implications for research, clinical assessment, and management of late-talking children are discussed.

Analysis on the Feasibility of Integrated Education for Autistic Children in China

Autism is a psychological disorder caused by the deviation from the nerve tissue development in the human body, and patients with this disorder can be easily recognized in the crowd, mainly due to their social impairment and abnormal and strange behaviors. This paper first introduces the relevant definitions of autism and integrated education. Then, it draws out that autistic children are characterized by communication difficulties, social impairment, narrow interests, stereotyped behaviors, a delayed speech system, a lack of imitation ability, etc. Lastly, based on the current education situation in China, this paper points out that, at present, teachers professionalism lags behind the requirements of integrated education, curriculum resources cannot meet the needs of autistic childrens education, and current learning styles are not suitable for autistic children. In addition, the construction of classroom culture fails to reach the degree of mutual integration, the teaching and learning pattern in Chinese autistic classrooms is not scientific enough, and the number of related studies is small. Based on the above problems, corresponding solutions are proposed, including the allocation optimization of curriculum resources, rational formulation of learning styles and teaching strategies, and the enhancement of the linkage between home and school.

Musical perception skills predict speech imitation skills: differences between speakers of tone and intonation languages

AbstractThe ability to imitate speech is linked to individual cognitive abilities such as working memory and the auditory processing of music. However, little research has focused on the role of specific components of musical perception aptitude in relation to an individual’s native language from a crosslinguistic perspective. This study explores the predictive role of four components of musical perception skills and working memory on phonetic language abilities for speakers of two typologically different languages, Catalan (an intonation language) and Chinese (a tone language). Sixty-one Catalan and 144 Chinese participants completed four subtests (accent, melody, pitch and rhythm) of the Profile of Music Perception Skills, a forward digit span task and a speech imitation task. The results showed that for both groups of participants, musical perception skills predicted speech imitation accuracy but working memory did not. Importantly, among the components of musical perception skills, accent was the only predictive factor for Chinese speakers, whereas melody was the only predictive factor for Catalan speakers. These findings suggest that speech imitation ability is predicted by musical perception skills rather than working memory and that the predictive role of specific musical components may depend on the phonological properties of the native language.

2 Infant Imitation: Detecting Risk in the First Year with PediaTrac™

Objective:Imitation has pervasive associations with social and communicative development. However, few methods have been developed to measure this construct in typically developing infants, and even less is available for at-risk populations, such as infants born preterm. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a particular risk of premature birth, is associated with atypical imitation and social communication. Although imitation emerges in infancy, most current screening and diagnostic tools for ASD cannot be utilized prior to 12 months. The present study aimed to develop and validate a caregiver-report measure of infant imitation, characterize imitation profiles at 4, 6, and 9 months in term and preterm infants, and explore the relationship between imitation and scores on an ASD screening questionnaire at 18 months.Participants and Methods:Participants (N = 571) were recruited from a larger multi-site study of PediaTrac™ v3.0, a web-based tool for monitoring and tracking infant development, and were surveyed longitudinally at birth, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months. Participants completed the online PediaTrac™ survey and several reliable and validated questionnaires via pen-and-paper format. For the purposes of this study, only the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (3rd ed.; ASQ-3), Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP), Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ), and the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers - Revised with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F) were examined. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) proposed imitation items will represent a unitary latent construct, for which convergent and discriminant validity will be demonstrated, (2) there will be measurement invariance between term status groups at each assessment period, (3) preterm infants will obtain lower caregiver-reported imitation scores compared to term infants, and (4) imitation abilities at the assessment period with the most robust imitation factor will predict M-CHAT-R/F scores at 18 months.Results:Distinct imitation factors at 4, 6, and 9 months were modeled with confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. Relationships between the factors and established measures of infant communication (CSBS; ASQ) and sleep (BISQ) revealed convergent and discriminant validity, respectively. Strict measurement invariance was demonstrated for the 4- and 9-month factors, and metric invariance for the 6-month measure. Full term infants scored higher on imitation at 9 months, though variance in this outcome was related to term status differences in sensorimotor skills. Lastly, the 9-month imitation factor, coupled with 6-month sensorimotor skills, predicted 18-month ASD risk over and above gestational age.Conclusions:This study provides support for the assessment of infant imitation, utilizing imitation to detect risk in preterm infants, and extending the age of identification for ASD risk into the first year. PediaTrac™ imitation, in combination with the PediaTrac™ sensorimotor domain, may be useful in detecting developmental risk, and specifically risk for ASD, within the first year, leading to earlier initiation of intervention. Further, with its minimal completion time and ease of dissemination through digital platforms, this measure can expand access to care and improve long-term outcomes for children and families.

Simulating urban growth by coupling macro-processes and micro-dynamics: a case study on Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT The urban form influences the quality of urban functions and is strongly correlated with the sustaining capabilities of urban development. However, in the context of rapid urbanization, unreasonable land expansion as a universal phenomenon poses a great challenge for urban management. Notably, the urban expansion process is self-organizing, and the evolving macroscopic pattern can be used to predict microscopic behavioral characteristics. Therefore, the analysis of macro- and micro-interactions can provide new ideas for urban modeling. Traditional geographic cellular automata (CA) models often have poor morphological reproducibility, and the few models that combine top-down and bottom-up CA use strict coupling constraints, resulting in inadequate self-organizing natural expressions and poor precision performances. In this study, we proposed a new land growth simulation model based on a soft constraint mechanism that couples micro-dynamics with macro-processes. Specifically, a geographic micro-process model (GMP) based on the meta-process accumulation concept was applied to capture the evolution characteristics of the macro-urban form and spatially deduce the future urban intensity gradient. The soft coupling between the macro and micro levels of the model was supported by a punishment mechanism that was developed for this study. A specially designed index, the morphology similarity (MS) index, was developed to evaluate and understand the heterogeneity of the simulated and real urban forms from a micro-perspective. The model was applied to Wuhan, the largest city in central China, to demonstrate that the proposed model has a high simulation accuracy [with a Kappa value of 0.8506 and a figure-of-merit (FoM) value of 0.3034 in the optimal parameter combination] and imitative ability [maximum sensitivity (MS) value of 0.01341 in the optimal parameter combination vs. MS value of 0.01336 in the true scenario]. The evaluation system developed in this study also demonstrated the high robustness and reliability of the future multi-scenario simulation conducted in this work.

The effect of musical training and language background on vocal imitation of pitch in speech and song.

Vocal imitation plays a critical function in the development and use of both language and music. Previous studies have reported more accurate imitation for sung pitch than spoken pitch, which might be attributed to the structural differences in acoustic signals and/or the distinct mental representations of pitch patterns across speech and music. The current study investigates the interaction between bottom-up (i.e., acoustic structure) and top-down (i.e., participants' language and musical background) factors on pitch imitation by comparing speech and song imitation accuracy across four groups: English and Mandarin speakers with or without musical training. Participants imitated pitch sequences that were characteristic of either song or speech, derived from pitch patterns in English and Mandarin spoken sentences. Overall, song imitation was more accurate than speech imitation, and this advantage was larger for English than Mandarin pitch sequences, regardless of participants' musical and language experiences. This effect likely reflects the perceptual salience of linguistic tones in Mandarin relative to English speech. Music and language knowledge were associated with optimal imitation of different acoustic features. Musicians were more accurate in matching absolute pitch across syllables and musical notes compared to nonmusicians. By contrast, Mandarin speakers were more accurate at imitating fine-grained changes within and across pitch events compared to English speakers. These results suggest that different top-down factors (i.e., language and musical background) influence pitch imitation ability for different dimensions of bottom-up features (i.e., absolute pitch and relative pitch patterns). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal evidence that infants develop their imitation abilities by being imitated

Humans are widely considered the most socially sophisticated species on the planet. Their remarkable abilities in navigating the social world have given rise to complex societies and the advancement of cultural intelligence.1,2,3,4,5 But what characterizes us as ultra-social beings? Theoretical advances in social sciences over the last century purport imitation as a central mechanism for the emergence of humans' unique social-cognitive abilities.6,7,8 Uncovering the ontogeny of imitation is therefore paramount for understanding human cultural evolution. Yet, how humans become able to imitate is unclear and intensely debated. Recently, multidisciplinary findings have challenged long-standing assumptions that imitation is inborn.9,10,11,12 So what are the underlying processes supporting the development of imitation? One fascinating possibility is that infants become able to imitate by being imitated.13,14,15 Cognitive theories have suggested that by perceiving others imitating one's own behavior, visual and motor representations of that behavior are coactivated and associated, leading to the emergence of imitation abilities.14,15 Here, we show that being imitated by sensitive caregivers in infancy constitutes a psychological process giving rise to infants' imitation abilities. Results demonstrated (1) that maternal imitation at 14months positively predicted infants' imitation abilities at 18months and (2) that maternal imitation at 14months mediated the positive effect of maternal sensitivity at 6months on infants' imitation abilities at 18months. This offers substantial evidence for the role of social interactions in the emergence of imitation as a key factor for human cultural learning.

The Application of Body Rhythm in Music Therapy: Taking the Experience of Children with Autism as an Example

According to statistics in 2021, the number of autistic people in China exceeds 10 million, and the number of children with autism exceeds 2 million. However, there is no major of autism rehabilitation intervention in the domestic education system, and most of the employees receive training only after entering the job. In the new period of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the state has put forward new guidance for the development of the autism industry, and the number of special education institutions and employees has increased rapidly, but at the same time, it is also faced with problems such as the application bottleneck of multiple methods of rehabilitation treatment, and the lack of certification system and standardization construction. Based on the concept of music therapy and the scientific theory needed for the rehabilitation of special children, it explores the integration of the role of music and rehabilitation intervention, combines music elements with body rhythm practice. After long-term planned training, it lays the way for medical rehabilitation, and promotes body coordination, exercise imitation ability and observation ability. Summarize the body rhythm application evaluation system obtained from practice, which provides reference and reference for the service mode and future development of special children.

Insights on action observation and imitation abilities in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder and typically developing children

BackgroundChildren with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) face difficulties in motor learning. Action observation and imitation are strategies frequently used to teach motor skills. Aims(1) To study action observation and imitation abilities in children with DCD compared with typically developing peers with a new protocol. (2) To gain insights in the relation between action observation, imitation, motor performance and activities of daily living (ADL). MethodTwenty-one children with DCD (mean age 7 years 9 months, range 6–10 years) and 20 age-matched controls (mean age 7 years 8 months, range 6–10 years) were included. A newly developed protocol was used for testing action observation and imitation proficiency. Motor performance were evaluated with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2. ADL were investigated with DCD Questionnaire’07. ResultsChildren with DCD presented significantly lower action observation (p = .037) and imitation abilities (p < .001) than peers. Worse action observation and imitation abilities were related to lower motor performance and ADL skills and a younger age. Non-meaningful gestures imitation proficiency had predictive value for global motor performance (p = .009), manual dexterity (p = .02) and ADL (p = .004). ConclusionsThe new protocol for action observation and imitation abilities can be helpful for detecting motor learning difficulties and for delineating new opportunities for motor teaching approaches in children with DCD.

Underpinnings of explicit phonetic imitation: perception, production, and variability

This work tests the relative role of perception- and production-based predictors, and the relationship between them, in imitation of artificial accents varying in voice onset time (VOT), using a paradigm designed to target distinct sub-processes of imitation. We examined how explicit imitation of sentences differing systematically in voice onset time (VOT) was influenced by the type of VOT manipulation (lengthened vs. shortened) and by the presence vs. absence of voice-related variability in exposure. In contrast to previous work, participants imitated shortened as well as lengthened VOT, albeit with both qualitative and quantitative differences across the two manipulation types. The presence of voice-related variability inhibited imitation, but this inhibition was mitigated by a preceding session with no voice-related variability (i.e., sentences were acoustically identical except for VOT). We then tested the extent to which individual performance on the accent imitation task was related to performance on three other tasks: 1) discrimination of the target accents, 2) imitation of words in isolation drawn from a VOT continuum, and 3) discrimination of these same words. Performance on the accent discrimination task and the word-level imitation task, but not the word-level discrimination task, were independently predictive of accent imitation. Results are consistent with a conceptualization of explicit imitation as the sum of automatic phonetic convergence processes overlaid with distinct, controlled perceptual and articulatory factors that pattern differently across individuals. Phonetic imitation should not be considered as a monolithic skill, and models predicting variation in imitative ability must consider not only the potential sources of individual variability, but also at what level these sources of variability exert their influence.&amp;nbsp;

Adversarial learning-based multi-level dense-transmission knowledge distillation for AP-ROP detection.

The Aggressive Posterior Retinopathy of Prematurity (AP-ROP) is the major cause of blindness for premature infants. The automatic diagnosis method has become an important tool for detecting AP-ROP. However, most existing automatic diagnosis methods were with heavy complexity, which hinders the development of the detecting devices. Hence, a small network (student network) with a high imitation ability is exactly needed, which can mimic a large network (teacher network) with promising diagnostic performance. Also, if the student network is too small due to the increasing gap between teacher and student networks, the diagnostic performance will drop. To tackle the above issues, we propose a novel adversarial learning-based multi-level dense knowledge distillation method for detecting AP-ROP. Specifically, the pre-trained teacher network is utilized to train multiple intermediate-size networks (i.e., teacher-assistant networks) and one student network by dense transmission mode, where the knowledge from all upper-level networks is transmitted to the current lower-level network. To ensure that two adjacent networks can distill the abundant knowledge, the adversarial learning module is leveraged to enforce the lower-level network to generate the features that are similar to those of the upper-level network. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed method can realize the effective knowledge distillation from the teacher to student networks. We achieve a promising knowledge distillation performance for our private dataset and a public dataset, which can provide a new insight for devising lightweight detecting systems of fundus diseases for practical use.

For better or worse: Impacts of information leakage by a common supplier with innovation imitation of downstream firms

This paper considers a supply chain structure where an incumbent and an entrant order a critical component sequentially from a common supplier. The incumbent introduces an innovative product whose innovation value is its private information, and the entrant strategically chooses to either imitate the incumbent’s innovation at a cost or introduce a regular product without imitation. The supplier can choose whether or not to leak the incumbent’s order quantity to the entrant. This paper theoretically investigates the interplay between information leakage and innovation imitation, and examines the impacts of information leakage on the channel entities. We find that the entrant always imitates the innovation when the imitation cost is low, and imitation benefits the supplier but damages the incumbent. In the absence of incumbent’s quantity distortion, the supplier is more likely to leak the information except when the entrant’s imitation cost is moderate and the imitation ability is strong; however, its willingness to abandon information leakage increases in the presence of quantity distortion. Different from previous studies, our results suggest that quantity distortion enables a win–win–win outcome for supply chain members, all of whom have consistent preferences on information leakage. Besides, an information sharing agreement can be achieved between the incumbent and the entrant, which is beneficial to the supplier as well.

THE EFFECT OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND SENSORY INTEGRATION ON THE LEVEL OF SELF-CARE OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS

The purpose to assess the effectiveness of occupational therapy and sensory integration on the level of self-care of children with autism spectrum disorders in early childhood.&#x0D; Materials and methods 60 patients (from 3 to 5 years) participated in the study. The control group (CG) underwent a standard correction program with the consultation of an occupational therapist for 6 months. The first main group (OG1) additionally received occupational therapy sessions 3 times a week, which were aimed at forming self-care skills. Children of the second main group (OG2) received sessions on sensory integration (2 times a week) in addition to OG1 therapy. In sessions on sensory integration, children formed and improved imitation abilities, orientation in space, coordination, and sensory perception. The study used a questionnaire for the assessment of children's disability. The self-care domain was used for the analysis. Evaluation was carried out by occupational therapists before the start of the intervention and after completion of the program.&#x0D; Results Initial results revealed a rather low level of self-care in the patient groups. In all groups, the worst scores were obtained in the item that is responsible for fastening and unfastening fittings, and the best in the item that is responsible for the awareness of defecation. As for the final indicators, the item "fastening" remained with the lowest score in CG and OG1. The best score remained in the item "awareness of defecation". Analysis of the distribution of groups by gender did not establish differences between groups. The average age of the children was 3.85±0.63 years. The groups did not differ in age. Initial results revealed a fairly low level of self-care, but the groups were not statistically different. Indicators х̅±SD of the total domain score were 24.35±6.34 points in CG, 26.10±7.70 points in OG1, and 25.85±5.65 points in OG2. Comparison of the three groups according to the final results of the total score of the self-care domain established statistical differences. Conducted a posteriori test established the presence of statistical differences in all pairs of groups (p&lt;0.001). Statistical indicators х̅±SD in CG were 30.85±6.71 points, in OG1 – 42.20±5.14 points, and in OG2 – 53.05±5.85 points. The results of the repeated assessment were statistically different from the initial ones in CG (t = -11.156, p&lt;0.001), OG1 (t = -20.794, p&lt;0.001) and OG2 (t = -23.875, p&lt;0.001). These results are a consequence of the fact that statistically significant dynamics were observed in CG only in five points, namely those responsible for: consistency of food consumed, use of drinking vessels, nose care, hand hygiene, fasteners. On the other hand, among groups OG1 and OG2, statistically significant changes were found in all items of the domain, however, a pairwise comparison of the final results in the items of groups OG1 and OG2 revealed statistical advantages of the second in five items. At the same time, a pairwise comparison of the final results in the items of the CG and OG1 groups revealed statistical advantages of the latter in seven items.&#x0D; Conclusions The addition of occupational therapy sessions to a standard remedial program improved the effectiveness of the intervention as measured by a number of items and the total score of the self-care domain of the Child Disability Assessment Questionnaire. However, adding occupational therapy and sensory integration to a standard correctional program had the best effect on self-care.

Вплив ерготерапії на показники сенсорного профілю дітей з розладами аутистичного спектра

The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of occupational therapy on the sensory integration indicators of children with autism spectrum disorders in early childhood. Materials and methods. 60 patients (from 3 to 5 years old), who received rehabilitation measures for 6 months, participated in the study. In the control group, children received a standard corrective program. Children of the main group 1 additionally went through occupational therapy sessions, which were addressed to developing self-care skills. In the main group 2, in addition to the main group 1 therapy, children received sensory integration therapy (imitation abilities, orientation in space, coordination, sensory perception, changing the sensory environment). The study used a short sensory profile. Evaluation was carried out by occupational therapists before the start of the intervention and after completion of the program. Results and discussion. Comparison of the three groups according to the initial results of the total sensory profile score did not establish statistical differences between the groups (χ²=2.594; p=0.273). The initial indicators of х̅ ± SD of the total score in the control group were 88.4 ± 4.11 points, in the main group 1 – 91.45 ± 7.12 points, and in the main group 2 – 89.7 ± 7.83 points. Comparison of the three groups according to the final results of the total sensory profile score established statistical differences (F=604.805; p&lt;0.001). х̅ ± SD indicators in the control group were 100.5 ± 4.56 points, in the main group 1 – 158 ± 6.61 points, and in the main group 2 – 165 ± 7.73 points. A conducted posteriori test established the presence of statistical differences between the control group and other groups (p&lt;0.001), between the main group 1 and the main group 2 (p&lt;0.01). It should be noted that the increase in х̅ in the control group was 12.1 points, in the main group 1 – 66.55 points, and in the main group 2 – 75.3 points, which was 13.69%, 72.77% and 83.95% of the initial values, respectively in groups. Conclusion. The addition of occupational therapy sessions to a standard remedial program improved the effectiveness of the intervention on all item scores and the Short Sensory Profile total score. However, adding occupational therapy classes and sensory integration therapy to the standard correctional program had the best effect on sensory integrative indicators. The results obtained by us are a consequence of the fact that in the control group the changes were less shown than in other groups, and in the main group 2 they were the most shown. At the same time, in the main group 1 and main group 2, the comparison of the final and initial results established statistical changes in all points of the sensory profile