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Effectiveness of the Program “Acqua Mediatrice di Comunicazione” (Water as a Mediator of Communication) on Social Skills, Autistic Behaviors and Aquatic Skills in ASD Children

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Abstract

The study aims to analyze the effectiveness of a swimming program on interpersonal skills, autistic mannerisms, and aquatic abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Research on aquatic therapy showed improvements in motor skills, whereas there is little evidence of effectiveness of this approach on social impairments of ASD. Participants included 25 children, 13 in the experimental group and 12 in the control group, matched for gender, age and autism score. The results showed an advantage in the relational skills for the experimental group at the post-test. The tendency to ameliorate other symptomatology, e.g., autonomy and negative behaviors, persisted at follow-up. Likewise, positive changes in aquatic skills were maintained 6 months after the end of the program.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Francesca Ottonelli and Paola Vicari for their contribution to data collection. Moreover, they thank all the schools, the teachers and swimming teachers, the parents, and the students who participated to the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, (Departement of Education Sciences), University of Genoa, Corso Podestà 2, 16128, Genoa, Italy

    Mirella Zanobini & Silvano Solari

Authors
  1. Mirella Zanobini
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  2. Silvano Solari
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Contributions

MZ participated in the design of the study, coordinated all the phases of the study, carried out the design and interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript; SS participated in the design of the study, participated in the planning of the interventions, performed the measurement, and helped draft some part of the manuscript (namely Methods and Discussion). Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mirella Zanobini.

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The authors of this manuscript declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee (Ethical Code of Italian Psychology Order and the Ethical guidelines of the Italian Association of Psychology) and with the 2013 Helsinki Declaration.

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Informed consent was obtained from the parents of all children participants included in the study.

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Zanobini, M., Solari, S. Effectiveness of the Program “Acqua Mediatrice di Comunicazione” (Water as a Mediator of Communication) on Social Skills, Autistic Behaviors and Aquatic Skills in ASD Children. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 4134–4146 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04128-4

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