Interaction of attention type with frequency of feedback on a throwing skill learning in children with autism

It has been observed that children with autism have problems in performance movement skills. Attention and feedback are two influential factors in learning movement skills. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the interaction between the type of attention and the frequency of feedback on the learning of throwing skills in children with autism. The research was conducted with a sample size of 60 children with autism (mean age = 6.94 ± 0.42), who were divided into four experimental groups. Each group consisted of 15 participants and was categorized based on attention type and feedback frequency. The attention types included internal attention with a 100% frequency, internal attention with a 33% frequency, external attention with a 100% frequency and external attention with a 33% frequency. The task used was throwing darts (with a score range of 0 to 100). The research protocol included practicing the sandbag throwing skill as instructed, with a total of 45 attempts during the acquisition phase (5 blocks of 9 trials). After 24 h, a retention test was conducted. In the acquisition phase, a repeated measures ANOVA with factors including types of attention and frequencies of feedback, across 5 blocks, was employed. Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA test was applied for the retention test. The results indicated that internal attention was associated with superior learning outcomes compared to external attention during the retention test ( P