Adaptive Exercise utilizes a number of different added s supports and ABA strategies to implement the most effective exercise autism therapy. The focus of this article is on one of the ABA strategies used by our trainers, physical prompting. Physical prompting is when a trainer uses physical contact with the client to elicit the proper response. In the case exercise autism therapy, this would be a trainer manipulating the client’s body to perform and exercise safely improperly. This strategy is particularly important when working within this population because many children with autism struggle with motor planning and poor motor movements. Through the use of physical prompting our trainers can help shape a poor movement into proper form.
The strategy a physical prompting to teach exercise behavior must be done in a systematic and hierarchical manner. The goal is for the athlete to be able to perform and exercise movement with as little support as possible, and ideally independently. There’re number of reasons why a child may require physical prompting to learn or master an exercise. The child may not understand the exercise expectation, the child may physically not be able to perform the movement or the child may be resistant to engaging in this exercise behavior. Through the use of this ABA strategy the personal trainer can assist the client in learning or mastering this exercise behavior. Because the goal as for the child to be able to perform the movement with as little support as possible, the trainer first must establish the baseline for that child performing a certain exercise. After this baseline data has been collected through the assessment process, the trainer should intervene with the level of physical prompting that is not only appropriate, but the least intrusive mode of supporting that child to perform a movement properly. Physical prompting hierarchies look different for open and closed chain exercises. An open chain exercise is when the foot or hand it’s free to move and a close chain exercise is when the hand or foot or fixed with the surface. An example of open chain physical prompting would be a child who cannot perform a bicep curl correctly. Once it is established that the child cannot perform this movement correctly through assessment, the trainer would provide the least intrusive physical prompt to support that child performing a bicep curl correctly. At Adaptive Exercise the hierarchy of physical prompting consist of the most intrusive physical prompts being manipulation of the most distal point of movement for a certain exercise. And the least intrusive physical prompt being the most proximal point of movement for a certain exercise. In the case of a bicep curl the most distal point of movement would be a hand or wrist. A trainer who intends to provide the most intrusive physical prompt for bicep curl, would physically prompt the movement from the wrist. The least intrusive physical prompts for this movement would be to provide physical prompting from the forearm.
Physical prompting for closed chain exercises is a bit different when it comes to the prompt hierarchy. A closed chain exercise, is any movement where the hands or feet are fixed with a surface and are the focus of the exercise. When prompting a closed chain exercise the personal trainer still follows the same principles of least intrusive prompting in order for that child form and movement properly. These prompt hierarchies for close chain movements are more exercise specific. Because our training is exercise autism therapy, our clients must be displaying proper form to receive the most beneficial results. Some of the closed chain exercises we teach are squats, deadlifts, kneeling push-ups, planks and pushups. When teaching a squat our trainers provide physical prompting from the forearms or wrists. This form of blogging supports the body throughout the eccentric and concentric stages of the movement. When feeding this prompt the trainer can provide less support so that the client needs to control more of their body throughout each stage of the movement. When teaching a dead lift, the trainer can provide physical prompting at the upper back or shoulders as the most intrusive form of prompting. A less intrusive physical prompt for a dead lift would be to provide physical prompting at the lower back, because this is closer to the joint of movement. Planks, push-ups, and kneeling push-ups all follow similar prompt hierarchies. The most insurances physical prompt used to teach these exercises is to support the torso and thighs with resistance bands. The trainer can then hold resistance bands the resistance bands to reduce the gravitational force against the body. A less intrusive form of this physical prompt is to provide less support to these resistance bands.
Exercise autism therapy is most effective when performed in a systematic manner. Physical prompting is one of the strategies we used to systematically teach these exercises. Through the use of prompt hierarchies we can see how much physical support athlete needs to perform and move properly. Once its proven a child can perform an exercise accurately at a prescribe prompt level the prompt can then be faded. By fading prompts to quickly or not systematically the client is more likely to engage in improper movement pattern. Is in proper moving patterns can result in injury or bad stress on the body. Our service goes beyond just personal training it is truly exercise autism therapy. This is why we use it very structured approach to see what level our athletes are performed movements at and how much support they need. There are many other teaching strategies and added supports we use at Adaptive Exercise. Physical prompting is just one of the strategies we have adapted from other therapies such as ABA that have been proven to be effective forms of autism therapy. This does not mean at physical prompting alone is appropriate for all athletes with autism. Some children do not react well to physical prompting. This is why we have multiple strategies in order to provide the most appropriate training possible.