Squats are one of the most beneficial exercises a person can learn. They are an essential functional movement pattern that we use in our everyday lives. We use squats when we are bending down to pick things up off the ground, when we’re transitioning from sit to stand and stand to sit. So, an improper squatting pattern can result in a lot of bad stress placed on the body every single day. As a fitness professional, I notice people engaging in improper squatting patterns all the time. Not just in the gym, but at the grocery store, at school and at home.
This movement problem is widespread across the general population, but at Adaptive Exercise our focus is on benefiting people on the spectrum through autism therapy. I’ve worked in public schools as well as substantially separate programs, with children and adults on the spectrum who present a wide range of abilities. In all of the settings, I have noticed many movement deficiencies. The squatting pattern however, is one of the most apparent. I believe there’re many reasons for this.
One reason for this common movement deficiency is a lack of education. Physical education in early childhood is centered around sports and games. Essentially teaching children in various ways how to play. So, when a child on spectrum is not attending or engaging in these activities, they can be left behind their peers. Of course, there is adaptive physical education, and in recent years there is an uptick in the amount of the inclusion sports programs available to children with autism, but this may not be enough as a means of affective autism therapy. Many of these children need to learn how to move efficiently to engage and participate in the sports or games. In terms of the squatting pattern, a child may lack of coordination, motor planning, strength or understanding of the expectations to perform this movement. This basic movement may be necessary to effectively participate in different childhood games or sports.
Another contributing factor to poor squat patterns amongst the autism population is lifestyle. For many children in adolescence on the spectrum building friendships can be a challenge. This can lead to developing leisure habits that are more solitary. Things like watching TV, playing on the tablet or computer, and playing video games. What do all of these activities have in common? They are all sedentary activities. These children who may already be falling behind their peers in terms of physical education, are further falling behind because of their leisure habits. A study from Oregon State University States that children with autism are averaging 50 minutes less of moderate physical activity each day. This time is being spent sitting. Prolonged periods of sitting can result in muscular imbalance, can contribute to weight gain and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. You may have heard the saying that sitting is worse than smoking, so why aren’t we more concerned when children are spending their free time sitting?
Rather than ramble on and on about the dangers of prolonged periods of sitting and how having a poor squat pattern can lead to more and more bad stress each day, I’d like to discuss how to correct this problem through exercise autism therapy. First off we need to do a better job of recognizing these movement deficiencies early in life. Just like early intervention for things like speech and behavior, we need to have the same approach to movement. When a physical education teacher notices the child who is not participating or lacks the prerequisite skills to participate effectively, they need to adapt the programming and/or provide additional supports. This could be as simple as modeling a movement (such as a squat) and having the child practice additional repetitions or as complex as shaping the behavior. Correcting these things early in life will increase the likelihood of that child being able to participate and learn new skills later in their education.
For older children and adolescents on the spectrum who may already be falling behind their peers in terms of physical education, we need to develop programing that is appropriate, effective and adaptable. When a child struggles to speech, they often receive speech therapy to correct or reduce their impairments. This same approach should be utilized by other autism therapies like exercise. In terms of teaching a squat pattern the instructor can use physical, visual and auditory supports. Some examples of physical supports maybe doing partner squats, supporting the students upper body to the concentric and eccentric portions of the movement. An example a visual support could be modeling the exercise, using foot markers or video recording their movement for later self-review. An auditory support might be modifying the language utilized to teach the movement, using the language at all, or verbal praise to reinforce things they’re doing correctly. These are just some examples of the different types of physical, visual, and auditory supports personal trainers, practitioners, and physical education teachers can use.
Correcting or teaching movement patterns is not an easy task. But for some reason the autism population specifically has been underserved in the area physical education for far too long. Autism therapy has become more mainstream, as autism awareness has grown over the last few decades. There’ve been laws put in place to protect the educational rights of people with autism, but I do not believe these laws have been strictly enforced in the case of physical education. Adaptive PE should not mean that the only thing adapted is the expectation of performance. This past year marks the first time a person with autism has received a division I sports scholarship. With the current rates of autism estimated to be 1 in 59 children, there should be higher rates of people with autism participating in sports at higher levels. I think the sheer lack of these numbers shows a lack of appropriate physical education for people on the spectrum. The more families are aware of this, and push for higher standards of adaptive physical education, the more benefits children on the spectrum will receive. Not only in the realm of sports and physical education, but in vocational an academic fields as well.