When founder of Adaptive Exercise, David Crowley first set out to research exercise options available for people with autism he saw a large void of services. David had been working with individuals on the autism spectrum for over a decade and had seen View options available over the course of his career. Being a fitness enthusiast himself, he knew that engaging in regular exercise had many physical as well mental health benefits. Exercise had been a large contributor to his own self-improvement. David wanted people with autism to have access to the same benefits, so they could improve themselves and become more successful and independent. When he first Google searched autism exercise, he found countless articles stating the benefits of exercise for people with autism, but was hard-pressed to find companies that were offering these types of services. He decided to shift his efforts towards becoming a certified personal trainer and developing exercise programming that was appropriate and effective for people across the autism spectrum. Well sharpening his skills and expanding his knowledge in regards exercise, he viewed it through the eyes of a special educator.
Working in special education programs David saw a large percentage of his students struggling with overweightness, obesity, sedentary behavior, find and gross motor functioning. He knew that these challenges where obstructing or preventing these students from reaching their full potential. The special education system within the United States is designed to provide the appropriate level of support to people with disabilities so that they do not fall behind their peers. Physical education falls under the umbrella of education so why is it that children are not receiving this same level of support to better their physical skills? Autism exercise strategies and curriculums should have been established by professionals so that children are learning and progressing in their physical education.
Approximately 30% of children with autism struggle with fine or gross motor function. Children and adolescents with autism are more than twice as likely to be overweight in nearly 5 times as likely to be obese as their neurotypical peers. Because of these weight struggles teens with autism are three times as likely to develop type II diabetes. These statistics show that a lack of autism exercise options are leading to an epidemic of health concerns for people with autism. An epidemic that has received little attention and emphasis from the special education system. Clearly there’s a need for exercise professionals are skilled in working with people with autism spectrum disorder. While not all individuals with autism need adaptive fitness programming, traditional personal trainers may not be appropriate for everyone with autism spectrum disorder.
In order to provide the most appropriate specialized personal training for people with autism personal trainers must know how to adapt the programming, how to progress and athlete as well as account for regressions. There’s a lot to account for within specialized autism exercise training. We use several different strategies to adapt our programming at Adaptive Exercise. We use completely individualized programming to provide the most appropriate autism exercise training. This is done with the use of our Personalized Exercise Plans. These plans are based off assessments and information obtained throughout the intake interview process. The PEP is a collection of benchmark objectives/goals written using specific language and measurable through data analysis. The PEP consist of all the exercises worked on over the course of each session, levels of performance, as well as other information such as recommended set numbers, repetition numbers and weight level. In order to progress an athlete through their fitness program they must be improving in level of independence, accuracy, number of sets, number of repetitions or the amount of resistance. Through the use of the PEP our personal trainers can measure each athletes performance within each session. This allows us to easily monitor if an individual is progressing through their fitness program. Likewise we can track and monitor progressions over the course of our autism exercise training. In the case of regressions the personal trainer can adapt the programming so that the athlete can succeed and progress.
There many different ways we can adapt the programming for individuals at Adaptive Exercise. We can provide visual supports, kinesthetic cues, physical prompts or use modified language. Visual supports such as video modeling, schedules, spot markers and physical models of each exercise can make understanding complex exercises more manageable. These types of supports also provide feedback in regards to the proper exercise form. Kinesthetic cues are a great type of support or adaptation for individuals who learn through performance. These cues set clear expectations, and help athletes learn how to move properly. Physical prompts are one of the most intrusive modes a supporting athletes in their exercise programming. This requires the personal trainer to manipulate the clients body so that they can perform and exercise appropriately. Modified language is when the personal trainer alters the language being used within the session to make it more clear and more easily understood by the athlete. This is typically done by reducing the amount of language in our instructions.
All of these types of supports are great ways to teach individuals how to exercise appropriately. Well we hope to be able to fade these supports to the point where athletes are performing exercises independently, we understand each individual presents with their own unique level of ability. Not all of the athletes we support at Adaptive Exercise will be able to exercise independently and that is okay. Our goal is to be able to provide the most appropriate level of support for each individual so that they can successfully access the benefits of exercise. The special education field educators strive to provide as much support as needed for children to be successful. Our personal trainers follow the same philosophy. Just because an individual may not be able to exercise at the highest level, or reach a level of independence does not mean they should not be engaging in exercise. We provide the most appropriate level support so that individuals with autism can be successful.