The Effects of Developmentally Aligned Kicking Instruction for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Kicking is an important fundamental motor skill that is seldom studied. Young children who can kick with competence have opportunities to increase their physical activity and engage in social interactions. We examined the effects of developmentally aligned kicking instruction taught to five children (7–8 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine the effects of developmentally aligned kicking instruction. The primary dependent measure was percentage of correct kicking trials and this was supplemented by two outcome measures, (a) the TGMD-2 kicking subtest score and (b) the kicking developmental sequence, which were measured at pretest, the end of baseline, post-intervention, and 3 weeks following intervention. All five participants improved their kicking performance, demonstrating that the intervention was an effective strategy for learning kicking skills for children with ASD.