Promoting Generalization And Transfer Of Motor Skills In Individuals On The Autism Spectrum

Many individuals on the autism spectrum present challenges in motor control and motor learning that affect their movement performance across domains of activities such as daily living, play, physical activity, sports and work. Autistic individuals can be dependent on their routines, prefer to do things in the same way and have difficulty generalizing skills to new environments. Therefore, understanding how best to support movement learning generalization (to a different context) and transfer (to a different skill) is important for this population. In a scoping review, we examined the extent of the literature related to interventions promoting generalization and transfer of motor learning in autism. Of the 1,050 reports screened, 34 met eligibility criteria. Motor learning was the explicit focus of 3 studies, and they reported on skill generalization, not transfer. A qualitative analysis of the terminology and components of interventions as described in the studies led to developing six overarching themes and multiple subthemes. There is a need for autism research explicitly focused on skill generalization and transfer. Our work highlights concepts and terminology used across studies as a starting point to encourage collaborative research on this topic. In the second study, we designed a low cost, portable measurement system using GoPro cameras and Kinovea, an open-source video analysis software. We simplified and described how to apply a lens calibration procedure to correct the lens distortion and improve the measurement accuracy. Applying the distortion correction procedure significantly decreased linear measure discrepancy and led to similar accuracy and precision when using videos recorded from a 45º angle or from a 90º position such as overhead cameras. Our results confirm that using GoPro cameras mounted at 45º on a tripod, as needed for community-based studies, can provide sufficient measurement accuracy. In a third study, we designed a motor learning protocol and tested its feasibility and acceptability to include children with severe autism symptoms. Participants were assigned to an internal or external focus of attention and completed a bean bag throwing task. Thirteen children joined the study. Feasibility analysis highlighted recruitment and testing environment challenges. Acceptability results included the need to consider sensory and behavioral support, benefits and challenges of video instruction and the importance of motivation to improve performance. Descriptive statistics and visual analysis show high heterogeneity of performances across study phases. Including children with higher support needs in motor learning studies requires careful attention to environmental accessibility and to communication strategies used to support task understanding and motivation. Including participants with diverse autism presentations is important and requires environmental and communication supports to promote understanding and motivation. Operationalizing the supports provided is essential to ensure replicability of the results. Using technology can help conduct studies of skill generalization and transfer in natural environments.