scholarly journals Accept. Understand. Then play! The impact of sport and physical activity in autism spectrum disorder 

Author(s):  
Vincenzo Sorgente ◽  
Erez James Cohen ◽  
Riccardo Bravi ◽  
Diego Minciacchi

Participating in sports and physical activity has physical, psychological, cognitive and social benefits for everyone, including young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The practice environment and instructorship are significant inclusion factors for young people with ASD. A safe, attractive and easy-to-access environment has a positive impact on the practice of physical activity for all disabilities, ASD included. Nonetheless, the teachers and coaches are not always informed of the condition of the young people for which they are responsible and they may not have been trained to adapt their coaching to the reality of these young people. They may not have the knowledge, openness or resources to properly integrate a person with ASD in their group. Hence, it is relevant to give them tools so they can intervene more adequately with people living with ASD.

Author(s):  
Vincenzo Sorgente ◽  
Erez James Cohen ◽  
Riccardo Bravi ◽  
Diego Minciacchi

Participating in sports and physical activity has physical, psychological, cognitive and social benefits for everyone, including young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The practice environment and instructorship are significant inclusion factors for young people with ASD. A safe, attractive and easy-to-access environment has a positive impact on the practice of physical activity for all disabilities, ASD included. Nonetheless, the teachers and coaches are not always informed of the condition of the young people for which they are responsible and they may not have been trained to adapt their coaching to the reality of these young people. They may not have the knowledge, openness or resources to properly integrate a person with ASD in their group. Hence, it is relevant to give them tools so they can intervene more adequately with people living with ASD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole J. Reinders ◽  
Alexandra Branco ◽  
Kristen Wright ◽  
Paula C. Fletcher ◽  
Pamela J. Bryden

Autism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1699-1710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Choi Yeung Andy Tse ◽  
Hong Paul Lee ◽  
Ka Shing Kevin Chan ◽  
Veronica Bordes Edgar ◽  
Alison Wilkinson-Smith ◽  
...  

Sleep disturbance and executive dysfunction have been widely reported in children with autism spectrum disorder. While the positive impacts of physical activity on sleep quality and cognition are documented in children with typical development, similar studies in children with autism spectrum disorder are scarce. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of physical activity on sleep quality and cognition in children with autism spectrum disorder. A total of 40 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (mean age = 9.95 years) were randomly assigned into two groups: physical activity intervention and control. Four sleep parameters (sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, sleep duration, and wake after sleep onset) and two executive functions (inhibition control and working memory) were assessed. Results revealed a significant improvement in sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, and sleep duration in the intervention group but not in the control group during weekdays. Moreover, a significant improvement in inhibitory control was shown in the intervention group but not in the control group. No significant improvement in working memory capacity was documented in either group ( ps > 0.05). Our findings highlight the value of physical activity in improving sleep quality and cognition among children with autism spectrum disorder, but specific physical activity may be required to benefit individual executive functions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 40-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Michèle Duquette ◽  
Hélène Carbonneau ◽  
Romain Roult ◽  
Laurence Crevier

Author(s):  
I.R. Bodnar ◽  
A.F. Hamade

Background. Heeding the experience of existing research will allow designing future scientific research. This will increase physical activitу (PA), improve physical fitness, maintenance and improvement of health of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); assist implementation of inclusion in the educational institutions of the country. Purpose - to analyze the content of physical education programs used in attracting children with autism spectrum disorder to physical activity and to find out domains of indicators that should be investigated. Participants and setting. The analysis of scientific articles for 2000-2019 years was done, 48 publications were selected. Research design. A systematic search for scientific data was conducted, articles that were not related to physical activity were not taken into consideration. The search depth was 3 generations. Data collection. The search of documents was carried out in different databases using keywords «autism», «ASD», «physical activity», «fitness». Articles that studied the effect of different means (lesson programs) on the performance of children with ASD were chosen. More than 100 English-language papers for the last 20 years were analyzed. Data analysis. A content analysis of received data was conducted. The reliability of the differences between the frequency of study of aggregates of indicators was clarified using χ-test. Findings. Scientists, studying the impact of programs of PA on children with ASD, often focus on disruptive behavioral models (31%) of these children and on their indicators of physical fitness and motor skills (35%). Most studies analize the effects of a program using one type of PA. Conclusions. Among the existing research, there is a lack of multidimensional and multimodal programs that would combine effective means of PA. The frequency of communication and cognitive performance research (12% and 10% respectively) significantly (p<0.05) lags behind the research of frequency of physical and behavioral indicators in children with ASD (35% and 31% respectively). there is a lack of research that would study different groups of indicators (physical, cognitive and indicators of problem areas of children with ASD, behavioral and communicative) together.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 1139-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Isenberg ◽  
Amy M. Yule ◽  
James W. McKowen ◽  
Lisa A. Nowinski ◽  
Gina A. Forchelli ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1726
Author(s):  
Leonardo Zoccante ◽  
Michele Marconi ◽  
Marco Luigi Ciceri ◽  
Silvia Gagliardoni ◽  
Luigi Alberto Gozzi ◽  
...  

Equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) have been suggested to improve adaptive behavior, and possibly motor function, in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated the effects of EAAT on adaptive behavior and motor function in 15 children with ASD (13 males) aged 7–15 years as well as the impact of EAAT on the magnitude of stress in the parent–child system and the evolution in the child interaction with both the trained therapist and the therapeutic animal through the 20 weekly sessions of EAAT. EAAT were associated with greater adaptive behavior and coordination (all p ≤ 0.01) as well as a progressive improvement in the child’s abilities to respond to the increasing complexity of such form of positive behavioral support (all p < 0.001). However, EAAT did not prove to be effective in reducing parental distress. Collectively, preliminary evidence presented here may have important public health implications and gives reason to hope that EAAT could possibly be an effective option in ASD, warranting further investigation of its potential benefits in clinical trials among larger samples.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Martina Siracusano ◽  
Eugenia Segatori ◽  
Assia Riccioni ◽  
Leonardo Emberti Gialloreti ◽  
Paolo Curatolo ◽  
...  

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families have represented a fragile population on which the extreme circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak may have doubly impaired. Interruption of therapeutical interventions delivered in-person and routine disruption constituted some of the main challenges they had to face. This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on adaptive functioning, behavioral problems, and repetitive behaviors of children with ASD. In a sample of 85 Italian ASD children (mean age 7 years old; 68 males, 17 females), through a comparison with a baseline evaluation performed during the months preceding COVID-19, we evaluated whether after the compulsory home confinement any improvement or worsening was reported by parents of ASD individuals using standardized instruments (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (Second Edition), Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised). No significant worsening in the adaptive functioning, problematic, and repetitive behaviors emerged after the compulsory home confinement. Within the schooler children, clinical stability was found in reference to both adaptive skills and behavioral aspects, whereas within preschoolers, a significant improvement in adaptive skills emerged and was related to the subsistence of web-delivered intervention, parental work continuance, and online support during the lockdown.


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