This study examines whether integrating sports and arts interventions enhances response joint attention (RJA) in children with mild autism and provides insights for diversifying intervention strategies for autism. 2024.6–2024.12,Twenty-four children with autism, aged 6–12 years, were recruited from an autism association in Anhui Province, China. Participants were randomized using a computer-generated sequence (allocation concealed from assessors) assigned to an experimental group (n = 12) or a control group (n = 12). Over 12 weeks, the experimental group participated in basketball and drawing lessons four times a week for 60 min per session, while the control group engaged only in routine activities and structured teaching provided by their school and the association. RJA performance was assessed pre- and post-intervention using eye-tracking technology, analyzing key metrics: time to first fixation (TFF), fixation count (FC), total fixation duration (TFD), total visit duration (TVD), visit count (VC), and the ratio of correct to incorrect for first responses. Post-intervention, the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in RJA performance than the control group. Key metrics for the experimental group included TFF (0.52 ± 0.79), FC (36.35 ± 6.34), TFD (11.05 ± 1.33), TVD (17.05 ± 2.33), VC (24.25 ± 2.49), and correct-to-incorrect ratio (1.1 ± 0.1), all of which outperformed the control group: TFF (0.59 ± 0.11), FC (30.83 ± 2.14), TFD (9.47 ± 1.38), TVD (15.42 ± 1.51), VC (20.33 ± 1.87), and correct-to-incorrect ratio (0.97 ± 0.08),partialη2 ranged from 0.25 to 0.78, with P < 0.05. Integrating sports and arts interventions significantly improves RJA in children with autism, highlighting the potential of these methods in enhancing attention-related behaviors.
Wu et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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