Why is there a need for personal trainers specializing in working with individuals with special needs? There are so many different answers to this question, but let’s start by looking at the issue. Obesity, sedentary lifestyles, poor dietary habits, these are all problems effecting the general public today. But, unfortunately these challenges appear to be magnified for people with autism. While none of these issues are exclusive to people with special needs, finding help to resolve them is not so easy. Who should families turn to for help, personal trainers and dieticians? These would be the most likely avenues for the general public, but these solutions may not be the most appropriate for an individual with special needs. In many situations’ families are searching for someone who understands how to work with people with special needs. Whether it be teaching exercise, academics or life skills. We have special education teachers and classrooms not for everyone with special needs, but for those who cannot receive an appropriate education in the general classroom. So why not have special personal trainers, not for everyone with special needs, but for those who cannot receive appropriate exercise training from unspecialized personal trainer. Our autism exercise programs have been adapted to support athletes with a wide range of abilities and special needs. Adaptive personal training can support neurodiverse individuals regardless of their current abilities. Adaptive Exercise programming is designed to support clients at whatever level is deemed appropriate so that they can be successful.
Autism rates have been steadily increasing for years, and while this diagnosis does not come with any physical limitations, the latest estimates show 87 percent of people with autism have motor difficulties of some sort (1). Sure, some of these families are seeking physical and occupational therapy to help treat these difficulties, but is that really enough? The need for services far outweighs the size of the problem. Not every person with autism qualifies for insurance paid occupational and/or physical therapy. So these families are stuck either paying for these therapies out of pocket or going without services to target these challenges. Adaptive Exercise offers autism exercise programs that teach functional movement skills. These are movements that benefit our clients in their activities of daily living. Pushing movements, pulling, bending and lifting, rotational and single leg movements that we all use every day. This approach to strength training is appropriate for clients of all ability levels, regardless of their exercise experience. Prior to beginning any exercise program, families should consult their physician to see if there are any medical restrictions for exercise. Our trainers are happy to and encouraged to collaborate with other therapists, paraprofessionals, doctors or educators to create a program that is most appropriate for your loved one. The ultimate goals are to teach our clients how to exercise, help them improve their physical and mental health, and to build a positive exercise experience.
Still wondering what makes Adaptive Exercise training different from other personal training? The answer is right in our name, Adaptive, our programming uses 4 different modes of support to ensure our clients success. There are physical supports, verbal supports, visual supports and kinesthetic supports. Within each of these different types of supports, there are many different ways to help our clients. Our autism exercise programs may not use these strategies with each of our athletes, we strive to use the most appropriate level of support for success and progression. Physical supports entail physical prompting, shadowing movements or spotting, and modifying movements. Verbal supports are particularly helpful for individuals who have receptive language difficulties, auditory processing problems and other language challenges. Modified language mands are how we provide verbal support to our clients. This means our trainers use short utterances consisting of only the most essential language to provide instruction. Verbal praise and good old fashion positive reinforcement are other verbal supports we can utilize. Visual supports such as hand, foot, arrow and spot markers, mirrors, video modeling, modeling movements in real time, schedules, timers. There are many different ways with can help individuals in our autism exercise programs with visual supports. The final mode of support is kinesthetic. This is done through kinesthetic cues. These can be done by using exercise equipment, the trainer themselves, the environment or different body parts. Essentially, we are providing our clients with concrete cues to complete movements. For example, an Adaptive Exercise trainer may instruct their client to stand in front of a chair (with the seat behind them) with their hands in front of their chest, then to bend their knees and lower their backside to the seat before returning to a stand. The chair is the cue, because they have a concrete expectation of where to move to. All of these types of supports could be elaborated on in depth and will be covered at another time. But, it’s clear that these are not all standard practice in personal training. Some are certainly commonly used, but our autism exercise programs aim to provide the most appropriate programming for all of our clients regardless of their abilities.
While Adaptive Exercise is not a weight loss service, exercise is a major contributing factor in healthy weight loss. Obesity and overweightness are huge problems not only for people with autism, but for our society as a whole. Our autism exercise programs work to create fitness sessions and programs that are not only focused on building strength, but are aerobic as well. We can’t guarantee weight loss, but we will work with your family and team to create healthy lifestyle changes.
The need for special personal trainers who know how to and understand working with individuals with special needs is clear. This is certainly not an attack on personal training either, but there is a massive void of appropriate services for this population. There are many different ways we can help people with special needs get the exercise they need and make lasting life changes.