The effects of group motor skills training on levels of physical fitness and the prerequisites for social interaction in autism spectrum and motor coordination disorders
Valentina Petrini, Adele Carpitelli, Vanessa Artoni
The article presents a motor skills intervention to be implemented in small groups. Particular attention is given to collecting preliminary data in order to obtain important information about the students’ levels of development and on the environmental conditions that enhance the participants’ emission of physical activity. It also emphasises the positive effects that teaching appropriate physical activities can have on the frequency of prosocial behaviours emitted by the students in a setting different from individual intervention. Behavioural strategies such as Functional Analysis, Constant Time Delay, Task Analysis and Total Task Chaining were used to teach target motor skills. The intervention was conducted with three students aged between three and five diagnosed with developmental disorders and showed to be effective in increasing levels of physical activity and frequency of prosocial behaviours emitted by all participants.
Keywords
Small group, motor activities, prosocial behaviour, functional analysis, task analysis.