When people commonly think of autism therapy they think of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech pathology, and applied behavioral analysis. These therapies are great but that’s not to say, there isn’t other options out there. In recent years social skills groups have picked up a lot of momentum and are common practice in many ABA centers. Exercise therapy is the next big autism therapy for people on the spectrum. It is a relatively new practice that people may not be aware of. The funny thing is that exercise therapy can offer a lot of the same benefits that these traditional therapies provide.
Some of the more common deficits that come along with autism diagnosis are impaired social skills, communication skills, low muscle tone, poor motor planning and ritualistic routines. Exercise therapy can reduce stereotypic behavior, increase muscle tone and muscle planning. So why is this autism therapy not more common knowledge? I believe the main reason for this, is that insurance coverage supports traditional autism therapy such as speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, an ABA therapy. For some reason or another insurance does not cover exercise therapy. However, the science is there to prove the exercise therapy for people with autism is an effective means of dealing with many of these symptoms.
Another reason for this is that a simple Google search will not yield any results mentioning exercise therapy as a potential option. What Google will show you is countless articles stating the benefits of exercise for people with autism. Many of these studies have been performed over the last decade, and are not common knowledge to practitioners working in the various autism therapeutic fields. I believe as the exercise for autism therapy field grows, more families will turn into this as an option.
Exercise therapy is it more naturalistic approach to dealing with things like maladaptive behavior and ritualistic or stereotypic behavior, than pharmaceutical drugs. This is another reason why this approach to autism therapy should be tried earlier on, before considering more extreme measures like prescription medications. This type of therapy can also easily be used in conjunction with many of other traditional options.
Coming from a speech pathology background and working in ABA settings I see a wide range of deficits that could benefit directly from exercise. Children who are sedentary most of their lives, children who have maladaptive behaviors such as aggressions or self-injurious behavior, and children who lack self-confidence. Exercise can improve self-confidence reduce maladaptive behaviors and increase cognitive functioning. On top of this exercise offers other benefits such as improvements in motor planning, increase proprioception, decreased blood pressure, better balance and it can contribute to weight loss.
Another phenomenon that I’ve noticed in my years working with children with autism, is a wide spread lack of nutrition. Perhaps this is why children with autism are more than twice as likely to be an overweight, nearly 5 times as likely to be obese in nearly 3 times as likely develop type II diabetes. This is a result of eating processed foods such as chicken nuggets, fast food and other convenient unhealthy food choices. It’s not only what children are leading, but also what they’re not eating. Getting any child to eat vegetables be a challenge. These challenges can be even more difficult for children with autism. And for some families this leads them giving up on these healthy food choices.
Many of these children fall into these habits early in life and due to the ritualistic nature of their disability, they adhere to these nutrition habits later in adolescence and into adulthood. Pair this with the lack of exercise, living sedentary lifestyles and there’s a reason why these obesity and overweight rates are so high within autism community. Exercise as autism therapy alone will not fully account for these unhealthy choices but it’s a step in the right direction. Exercise paired with nutrition can help improve self-confidence, regulate hormone levels and contribute to an overall healthier lifestyle.
Low muscle tone is another common deficit that presents in many individuals with autism. I believe this is mostly the result of lower rates of activity and lack of exercise. Especially for children that are on the more severe end of the spectrum. These children do not have the same access to sports teams, outing groups or other physically based activities. This is changing with the introduction of many sports inclusion programs, but for children who lack the prerequisite skills to participate in these types of activities, there’re still a few options. So what happens is that these children are more sedentary than their peers due to a lack of specialized physical skills to participate in sports, and as they grow older they continue have less experience and exposure to physical activity. This lack of physical activity contributes to their low muscle tone. These habits they’re formed early in life are carried into adolescence and adulthood, when it is more difficult to teach functional movements. This phenomenon is not limited to physical exercise, but the general physical activity as well. A child who learns only sedentary leisure activities, such as playing on the iPad, video games or watching TV, is less likely to engage in physical activity leisure. Once again when these habits are formed early in life they tend to transition into adolescence and adulthood. We as educators need to focus on teaching healthy leisure skills, like walking, hiking, kayaking, jumping rope, etc. so that children don’t fall into these sedentary habits.
These are just some of the reasons why exercise therapy for people on the spectrum, specifically children with autism is of such importance. I hope that my company Adaptive Exercise, and others like it can help make exercise therapy people on the spectrum as common as other types interventions. The more people start to read up on the many benefits exercise and the more companies that specifically cater to the autism population continue to pop up across the United States, the more momentum this field will gain.