You are ready to make a healthy change, to start being more physically active. So you go to the internet to see what types of activities and exercise programs are available. Online fitness programs, home gym equipment, gyms, fitness centers, and too many group class options to count. There are more ways to exercise than ever before, but finding an exercise program that is right for you can seem difficult. People have different schedules, varying ability levels, unique preferences, simply put there is no one size fits all for exercise. If finding the right exercise program for yourself seems difficult, then finding an exercise program for someone else is an even greater challenge. For autism families and families of people with special needs this is a big problem. We all need to keep active, but finding an exercise option that is not only appropriate, but beneficial and motivating for your loved ones is the priority. Adaptive Exercise creates individualized exercise programs for people with autism and other special needs. Our exercise autism therapy in Worcester County uses applied behavior analysis teaching strategies and added supports to help clients regardless of their current abilities. Our programs may look different from one client to the next, but through data collection and analysis we work to help clients progress in their fitness programs.
While our programs are individualized, our approach remains the same, to provide an appropriate level of instruction and/or support for our clients to be successful and safe. Through functional movement training we create exercise programs that prepare clients for their activities of daily living. Our exercise autism therapy in Worcester County is offered both in-home and virtually. Both forms of training focus on functional movement training and utilize added supports for our clients.
Within the framework of functional movement training, our personal trainers create individualized programs for each client. The programs are individualized based on the client’s ability level, preferences and cognitive abilities. These factors play a role in the modes of instruction, exercise selection as well as repetition ranges and level of resistance (if any). Exercise is not a one size fits all prescription, if done safely a personal trainer should determine the resistance and rep levels based on the client’s current abilities. When this process is applied to our exercise autism therapy we must pay special attention to form. Many autism families come to us seeking support, because their children have little to no prior experience with exercise. In order to ensure we a creating a safe exercise program we must first determine what exercises our clients can perform with good form. These exercises are noted during the assessment and can serve as the starting point of the exercise program. Exercises that cannot be completed with good form can either be worked on with the support of our trainers or can be scratched from the program. For the exercises that can be performed safely with good form, the trainer must determine the appropriate level of resistance, repetitions and sets. It is important to remember to not progress clients too quickly, as this can create frustration and make exercise aversive. At Adaptive Exercise, we progress clients at their own unique paces in our exercise autism therapy. This may mean increasing reps, sets or resistance gradually every few weeks or every other session. It is truly based on the performance of the individual and what they are comfortable doing.
Our individualized approach to autism exercise therapy is not limited to the exercise selection and levels of difficulty. Our instruction and adaptations to the programming are individualized for each client as well. This is done through our four tiers of adaptations. We can support our clients through verbal, visual, kinesthetic and physical supports. Verbal supports are provided through a process we call Modified Language Mands. Often times personal trainers will use their words to explain movements to their clients. Our trainers follow the same practice, but by using Modified Language Mands, meaning short utterances with only the most essential language to provide instruction. We understand that receptive language can impaired for some of our clients and this mode of instruction helps processing these instructions easier. An example of a Modified Language Mand would be a personal trainer saying “Bend Knees” “Touch Floor” to complete a frog squat. The instruction of the movement is clear and uses very little language. Visual supports come in many forms. There are mirrors, timers, and schedules, which are used by much of the general population in exercise. But, there are also hand, foot, arrow and spot markers that our trainers can use to set clear steps to an exercise. The personal trainer themselves might also serve as a visual support, by modeling an exercise either before or simultaneously with their client. Kinesthetic supports, are provided in the form of kinesthetic cues. This is when the trainer uses the environment to set concrete expectations of a movement. An example would be using a chair as a cue when teaching a client chair sits. The client is instructed to bend their knees and slowly lower their backside to the seat of the chair before standing up. The chair is the cue because the client knows to move till they feel the chair under them. These cues can be more complex, but the point is they provide the client with tactile feedback to if they are performing a movement correctly. The final mode of support we utilize in our exercise autism therapy is physical supports. This is done through physical prompting. This is when the trainer takes a hands on approach to guide a client through a movement.
Creating the most appropriate means of exercise for people with autism and other special needs requires taking an individualized approach to fitness. This means learning about your client, their likes and dislikes, their current abilities, understanding their learning styles and knowing how to best support them. Because with exercise autism therapy we are not just focused on improving fitness, but creating a safe, motivating and appropriate fitness program.