There are many different types of services available for autism families these days. Services ranging from social groups, to unified sports, inclusion programs, and therapies. All of these different types of services aim to provide support, benefits and opportunity to individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Adaptive Exercise was founded in 2017 to teach people with autism and other developmental disabilities how to exercise and to provide a wide range of benefits socially, mentally, and physically. Exercise helps people with autism in many of the same ways as traditional autism therapy fields, but also helps people improve their physical fitness. This skill set can be used as a form of leisure, as a means of self-improvement or to help regulate behavior. Dr. Nick Cavill states “If exercise was a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented.“ By creating a system of personal training that is appropriate for people with autism, they too have an appropriate means of accessing these same benefits. Traditional personal training services may be appropriate for a percentage of the autism population, but not everyone. Most personal trainers are not equipped to be able to support individuals with more profound impairments. Until recently this meant that parents, teacher or other therapists were responsible to try and help these individuals be more active, and to teach them how to exercise. While these efforts do not go unappreciated, we don’t have general education teachers running gym classes for the neurotypical population. Therapist don’t serve as personal trainers to people without disabilities. So why should a population that needs more specialized instruction be receiving their fitness instructions from less qualified exercise specialists. The answer is they shouldn’t! Adaptive Exercise using a number of different teaching strategies and supports to provide the most appropriate level of instruction for each and every client. Every person with autism presents with their own unique abilities and the instruction should be tailored to support these individuals.
One of the ways we can tailor a fitness program to individuals with special needs is by providing our exercise autism therapy in-home. Fitness centers may not be the most appropriate setting for children or individuals with significant cognitive or behavioral impairments. Gyms are often intimidating to people too, especially individuals who do not have a history of exercising. Whatever the reason, by offering our exercise autism therapy in-home we provide clients with a familiar and safe space to learn these new skills. Just because our program offers services in-home, does not mean that clients cannot access the same benefits of exercising. There is no need for fancy exercise machines, fitness centers or big weights to improve your physical fitness. The equipment we use is primarily sand-based, things like sand bells and medicine balls, so it is easily brought into client’s homes. This type of equipment is far more affordable than traditional in-home fitness equipment and it also allows our clients to use weights that are safe. Often times our clients have little to no experience engaging in a fitness program, so by using sand based weights we are taking the fear of dropping dangerous heavy weights out of the equation.
Group classes are one of the most popular options to get in shape. In the autism community social skills groups have also become one of the most popular interventions for children and teens. Adaptive Exercise offers group exercise classes that provide this same social environment to participants. Social skills groups are a popular form of autism therapy because they offer a vehicle to improve social skills in a fun atmosphere. Our exercise groups create a fun atmosphere for participants to learn how to exercise, engage with their peers and improve their physical fitness. Exercise has been shown to improve social skills for people with autism, and that’s not group exercise. So by exercising and sharing this experience with their peers they are benefiting their social skills in more ways than one. The fact that they are also improving their self-esteem, physical and mental health by exercising is a bonus.
One of the newest forms of exercise autism therapy we have made available to families is our virtual adaptive personal training. Using web cams our trainers can provide instruction to clients over the internet. While this mode of personal training may not be appropriate for all individuals with autism, it can be very effective for those who are able to follow this mode of instruction. Not all of our adaptive training strategies can be used in a virtual session, but trainers can still utilize physical modeling, kinesthetic cueing and modified language. These strategies allow the trainer to clearly provide exercise instructions and to correct form when necessary. Virtual training also allows us to be able to provide services to a wider range of autism families seeking to help their children or loved ones.
Similarly to our virtual training adaptive exercise videos are another new form of autism therapy. Our videos use imbedded visual supports, modified language and kinesthetic cues to support athletes through each exercise routine. While these videos certainly do not serve to replace the role of an adaptive personal trainer, they can be used as a tool. There are simply not enough personal trainers skilled to support the autism population at this time. We understand that many schools and special education programs are starting to put an emphasis on physical fitness, and that educators, therapists and other paraprofessionals will be teaching fitness. We hope that these videos can be utilized as tools to support these educators in teaching exercise.
There has never been a greater need for special physical educators than now. The rates for autism have been steadily rising for years, and without intervention many of these individuals will fall into sedentary lifestyles. I have seen it first hand, especially in the case of individuals with severe impairments, diets that lack nutrition and a lot of time spent on screens. This only further impairs these individuals and puts them at risk for a wide range of avoidable diseases. We need to take action and find ways to help these people be more active, teach them about physical fitness and how to exercise.