The effectiveness of swimming therapy methods on gros motor ability in autistic children

Abstract

This study aims to apply the swimming therapy method in improving gross motor skills of autistic children. Therapy basically needs to be given to build a better condition. Therapy must also be carried out routinely so that what is lacking in children can be fulfilled gradually. Data collection was carried out by observation and performance tests. In the swimming pool, therapy activities are held twice a week. Barriers experienced by children are the child's gross motor skills that are lacking, so that the ability to balance and activities that require gross motor skills is not optimal. The reason for conducting this research is because children experience obstacles when carrying out activities that require gross motor skills, so a swimming therapy method is needed that suits the needs of autistic children. The research method used was an experiment with Single Subject Research (SSR) using an ABA design. The research findings showed that the application of the swimming therapy method had an effect on increasing gross motor skills in one of the autistic children. This increase was evident from the increase in the mean level from the baseline-1 phase (A1), which was 33%, to the intervention phase (B), which was 52.5% to the baseline-2 phase (A2) which is 81%. It is recommended to develop a swimming therapy program for improve gross motor skills can use the swimming therapy method.