Özet:

The aim of this study was to explore the relation between sensory, motor and nonverbal cognitive functions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The study also aimed to explore whether these functions vary according to the autism severity. Material and Methods: The study included 30 children with ASD, 4-6 years. The Gilliam Autistic Disorders Rating Scale–2 Turkish Version (GARS-2-TV) for evaluating the autism severity, Sensory Profile (SP) for evaluating sensorial issues, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency–2 Short Form (BOT-2) for measuring motor profile, and Primary Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (PTONI) for evaluating cognitive functions were used in this study. Results: The results showed that children with ASD displayed atypical sensory responses, lower cognitive and motor performances. The BOT-2 category was determined as “below average” and “well-below average” in 96.6% of the children with ASD. A moderate negative correlation was determined between the BOT-2 and GARS-2 (r = -.587) and PTONI and GARS-2 (r = -.402), and a moderate positive correlation was determined between the BOT-2 and PTONI (r = .442). Motor (39%) and IQ scores (27%) were differentiated according to the autism severity. Discussion: Owing to impairments in the sensory-motor-cognitive functions of the children, “individual education programs” should not focus only the core deficits of ASD, but they should also involve sensory-motor intervention in preschool period.   

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