An investigation of motor performance in autistic children

and to determine problems in motor skills of autistic children. Material and methods: Thirty two children with autism and 30 healthy children between 6-12 years of age were included in the study. The running speed and agility, balance, bilateral coordination, strength, upper extremity coordination, response speed, visual motor control, upper extremity speed and dexterity subtests of the Bruininks - Oseretsky Motor Proficiency Test (BOMPT) and posture imitation subtest of Ayres sensory integration test were used to assess motor proficiency. Results: When comparing the autistic and healthy children, there was a significant difference between two groups in both BOMPT and hand function tests (p<0.01). It was determined that the autistic children were significantly incompetent in gross motor abilities including lower extremity strength and running speed as well as fine motor skills and the response speed. Condusion: The results of our study demonstrated that autistic children should be evaluated for both sensory-perceptual and motor performance aspects. Following the diagnose, evaluation of sensory-perceptual-motor and hand functions and planning a comprehensive rehabilitation program according to these assessments are important for increasing indepence level in daily living activities of these children,