The effect of sports vision training on visual attention and accuracy of targeting- interceptive skills of children with learning disabilities

Poster Presentation
Paper ID : 2021-SSRC
Authors
حق التدریس دانشگاه نجف آباد
Abstract
Background: Children with learning disabilities suffer from deficits in perception, attention (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile) and motor skills. Also, children with learning disabilities have a more inefficient use of gaze strategies during reaction time, visual tracking, and targeting and interceptive tasks. Visual strategies provide clear insight into how external visual information is used to guide and control goal-directed motor actions and interceptive movements.
Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of sports vision training on visual attention and accuracy of targeting- interceptive skills of children with learning disabilities.
Methodology: In this semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design and a 14-day follow-up period, among 7-10-year-old boys with learning disabilities in Isfahan city, based on the pre-test scores (performance), 30 people were divided into two groups of 15 people for sports vision training and control. In the pre-test phase, the participants threw and received the ball in 10 trails. The acquisition phase was conducted in 24 sessions, and each session was followed by video gaze training, with 10 trials. After finishing the last training session, also in two weeks of detraining in the retention phase; the participants tried to throw and receive the ball in 10 trials. In each of the phases, vision information was recorded by the eye tracking system and accuracy of throwing and receiving by the researcher. The data was analyzed by the method of mix ANOVA and regression
Results: The results of the current study showed that sports vision training statistically improved the accuracy of targeting-interceptive skills in children with learning disabilities. Also, the scores of visual attention (quiet eye) increased significantly in the sports vision training group compared to the control group. The results of regression analysis showed that visual attention scores can predict the performance of children with learning disabilities.
Conclusion: In general, the results of the current study provide evidence that visual training improves the performance of children with learning disabilities by improving their visual attention.
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