INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF BADMINTON EXERCISES ON ATTENTION DEVELOPMENT IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN

Background: The most common problems in individuals with autistic spectrum disorders are eye contact, being able to follow objects for a long time and lack of attention. Sports activities are known to prevent the negative symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The Badminton sports branch has a positive effect on the individual's object control, ball focus, and attention, reaction, perception and coordination characteristics. For this reason, racket sports are considered to be an important tool in reducing the lack of attention in individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Aim: The aim of this study, Investigation of the effect of simplified Badminton exercises on attention focus development of individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and is the assessment of the level of retention of an acquisition.

Material and Method: The study group was randomly selected 3 out of 6 children who are not mentally retarded and responded to commands among 10 children aged 12-14 years in Isparta Gülşen Önal Autistic Children Education Centre. The mean age of children was 12.6 ± 1.15 years, height was 154,3±5,13 cm and weight was 52±3 kg. Benton Visual Memory Test, Bourdon Visual Attention Test and Stroop Effect Test were used as the measurement tool. Children were performed adaptation exercises for 2 weeks and from simple to difficult badminton exercise drills for 10 weeks. For each individual, 3 studies were performed at different times and 60 minutes per week. Tests were performed at 3 different periods, to be 10 weeks Badminton exercise process before and after and also retention test after 8 weeks interval. The obtained data were evaluated by Wilcoxon test.

Results: According to the results of all measurement instruments of the students participating in the research, there is a numerical rise between pre - test and post - test values. When the results of the retention test with the last test are evaluated, there was no decrease in the two participants according to the Benton visual memory test results, but the other participant had also decline, although not at the beginning level. Burdon attention test and Stroop effect test showed that there was no return to baseline in all participants despite a numerical decrease.

Conclusion: We can say that Badminton exercise program has a positive effect on attention level. Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder can be said to have a positive influence on the development of eye contact, long-time focus of objects and attention level development. Badminton exercises can be offered as a model to improve attentiveness to children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder if the duration of participatory study is increased.