Motor Competence Assessment: Adaptation for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study aims to adapt the Motor Competence Assessment (MCA) instrument for autistic children. The adaptation was carried out in three stages: (a) a pilot test, (b) MCA assessment of 45 children with autism (Levels I and II) aged 5-11 years with documentation of each MCA test difficulties, and (c) adaptations to the original MCA tests were discussed with the original MCA authors, to decide each test adaptation. Ten items from the MCA were adapted, namely: manipulative tasks-throwing and kicking distance at 3 m; stabilizing tasks-rubberizing the feet of the wooden platform and initially grabbing the platform with one hand; scoring the jumping sideways test even when the feet do not land simultaneously; and locomotor tasks-placing in the floor the second wooden block in the shuttle run task, and in the standing long jump task, adding a line to be used as guide for the jump direction. The adaptation of the MCA proved to be of great scientific value and beneficial to health care and education professionals by providing them with access to a low-cost, efficient, reliable, and quantitative tool for assessing and monitoring the motor competence of children with autism.