Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of adapted recreational therapy program on gait patterns of children with autism. The current study included twenty-one autistic boys aged between 8 and 15 years. The scores of the children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to the “Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2-Turkish Version” (autism level) ranged between 62 and 123. The gait analyses of the participants were evaluated with the results of total distance, average velocity, average horizontal force and average vertical force before and after recreational therapy program. The recreational therapy program was performed throughout 12 weeks, two sessions per a week and one hour per session as the one-to-one training format. The program covered several gross motor skills such as balance, toys ball, jump, jogging to increase cardiorespiratory endurance, and several branches of the basic sports skills such as basketball, badminton, and soccer. Pearson Correlation analysis was performed in order to determine the correlation between autism level and gait parameters. A negatively significant correlation was found between autism level and average velocity (r=-.553**, p

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