People learn new skills in three different ways visually, auditory, and kinesthetically. As personal trainers teaching people with autism how to exercise we must account for all the different ways they can learn, in order to provide the highest level of exercise autism therapy. At Adaptive Exercise we use a multilevel system of supports when teaching exercises and progressing our clients through their exercise programs. We support our athletes visually through physical modeling of exercises and other visual supports. Kinesthetically our athletes are supported through cues and physical prompting. In order to support auditory learners our personal trainers use modified language to teach exercises. Together these strategies provide our clients with clear expectations as well as supports to help them progress their level of fitness through exercise autism therapy.
Visually supporting clients through their exercise autism therapy is one of easiest strategies to adapt to an exercise program. By simply physically modeling exercises either before the client performs the movement, or while the client is performing movement provides the client with a clear expectation of what the exercise should look like. When beginning exercise program I like to perform a physical model prior to and during each exercise. This helps set a clear expectation of what the child should be doing, and can help prompt the child performed exercise properly well engaging in the movement. Depending on the level of independence and accuracy this physical model can be faded both during and prior to each movement. In some cases these physical models may not be faded all, this depends on the clients performance.
Other strategies for visually supporting clients in exercise autism therapy require special equipment and visual supports. At Adaptive Exercise we use hand markers, foot markers, arrow markers and spot markers to help teach a number of different exercises. These markers say clear expectation of where to put hands and feet, and the direction of movement. An example of this would be positioning foot markers to indicate where a client should put their feet to perform a squat. Some exercises require more complex set ups for markers. Teaching a rotational movement may require the use of multiple arrows as well as hand and foot markers. Regardless of the complexity of the movement, visual spot markers should be consistently replicated to teach exercises. Using a number of different visual supports for each exercise can make the exercise expectation unclear. Overtime as a child progresses to their fitness program and becomes more independent performing exercises, spot markers may be faded. In some cases it may not be appropriate to fade spot markers at all. This comes down to the individualized programming goals of the client.
Kinesthetic cues and physical prompts are two more ways we help teach exercises at Adaptive Exercise. Kinesthetic cues can mean a lot of different things. Sometimes the kinesthetic cue is used to indicate where a body part should move to. An example of this would be when teaching a standing chest press, to provide a cue to push to wall. In this example the wall cues the client as to where to push to. These types of cues are especially effective in exercise autism therapy because they provide a concrete expectation of the movement. Other times the personal trainer can use their own body to cue a movement. The trainer may use their hands as a target point for the client to move to. And some cases the trainer may use themselves as the cue. An example of this would be a weighted carrier or farmers walk. The personal trainer may say pick up and carry to me. In this example the personal trainer is the kinesthetic cue.
Physical prompts are a more intrusive of way of teaching exercise, but are one of the most important modes of improving movement form. It is common when teaching exercise autism therapy, that the clients Will not be able to perform exercise movements properly at baseline. Engaging in an exercise with in proper form can lead to bad stress or injury, but rather then start from scratch, our trainers may utilize physical prompting. Physical prompting requires the trainer to manipulate the client’s body through the exercise movement. Physical prompting can be very intrusive or less intrusive depending on the client’s performance. The goal in exercise autism therapy is for the client to be able to perform these movements with the least amount of support possible while still displaying proper form. This means that overtime a more interested physical prompt should be faded to be less interesting, well the client can still display proper form. An example a physical prompting an exercise movement, would be a personal trainer manipulating a client’s arms to perform went overhead press with accurate form. A more intrusive form of physical prompting in this example, would be to manipulate the arms from the wrists. A less intrusive form of physical prompting would be to manipulate the arms from just above the shoulder.
Auditory learners receive additional support from our personal trainers at Adaptive Exercise through the use of our modified language. All exercises are paired with modified language to prompt clients through a movement. These modified language utterances are simplified to be four words or less. This means eliminating all unnecessary language when teaching new exercises or prompting an athlete. A typical personal trainer will use language as one of their primary tools for teaching new exercises. For some individuals on the autism spectrum following complex verbal instructions can be difficult and for others they may struggle with receptive language. Our trainers understand this and use the least amount of language necessary to explain an exercise. An example of this is the language we use to teach an overhead press. The personal trainer will simply state “push up, back down”. This indicates to the client what to do, without complex verbal instruction.
All of these levels of supports together help children, adolescents and adults on the spectrum learn and master exercises. Because our programming is individualized the level of support for each client may be different. Some clients may not need much additional support in their exercise programming at all, but we recognize that autism is a spectrum and we must do our part to most effectively teach exercise to everyone across the spectrum.