The effect of musical movement activities on the balance function of autistic children

Background: Autistic children with low level performance have problems in social interaction, communication skills and sensory processing as well as motor and balance function. Musical activity is one of the most effective therapeutic strategies to manage some of these core defects. The present study examined the effect of musical movement activities on the balance function of 7 to 14 years autistic children with low performance.

Methods: Twenty-two autistic students with low performance at age range of 7 to 14 years old participated in the study were assigned to experimental and control group randomly. The interventions were consisted of musical movement activities for experimental and without music for control group. Balance performance of subjects was assessed before treatment, and after 12^th and 24^th  therapeutic sessions using balancing subtest of Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (BOTMP). The assessments were double blinded. Data were analyzed employing repeated measures of ANOVA. The SPSS software-version 17was used.

Results: The results indicated that the effect of interventions on two groups was significantly different (F; 1.2= 52.8, P<0.001). The improvement in the balancing performance has been observed in both groups after 12th and 24th sessions although the difference in balance scores between groups was higher after 24th treatment session (P<0.001); that is in experimental group more improvement was obtained.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that musical movement activities can accelerate the improvement in balance function of autistic children with low performance.