Opinions of Parents Who Have Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder About Sport

WOS: 000410669500007This study aimed to examine the opinions of parents who have children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) about sport and identification of impact of sport on their children's problems. Forty-one parents (24 mothers, 17 fathers) participated in this study voluntarily. The study included parents of students with ASD, attending different special education centers. This study is a descriptive quantitative study. In the study, the researcher prepared a questionnaire which included 33 questions about demographic characteristics, their physical education courses and the effects of sports training on daily problems of their children with ASD. After the preparation of the questionnaire, experts reviewed it. For statistical analyses, the SPSS 11.5 computer package program was used. The average age of the children (31 male, 10 female) of surveyed parents was (10.17+/-4.99) years. The average body weight was (42.55+/-20.93) kg, and the average height was (138.27+/-30.77) cm. Of all the parents 51.2% of them were giving sports training to their children. When the results of the effects of the sport on those children's problems were examined, it was seen that the sport had mostly contributed to the communication skills (66.7%) and language development (52.4). Besides, 65.9% of all parents indicated that the special education centers where their children received special education did not have any physical education teachers or trainers. As a result, due to the positive effect of the sport on problems of children with ASD, especially trainers should be employed in the special education centers and in these centers the sports facilities should bring to appropriate levels