What makes Adaptive Exercise different from traditional personal training options? Adaptive Exercise is a personal training company specializing in working with individuals on autism spectrum and with individuals with other developmental disabilities. Not all traditional personal trainers are equipped to work with people on the autism spectrum, especially individuals with more profound developmental needs. Our programming is individualized and adapted to be appropriate for each individual regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. Not every individual on the autism spectrum maybe ready to engage in exercise program, tell parents should first contact their family physician to see if your child is ready to engage an exercise program.
At Adaptive Exercise we use Applied Behavioral Analysis or ABA teaching strategies and other added supports to provide the most appropriate personal training for each individual. ABA is amongst the most effective therapeutic interventions for people with autism spectrum disorder. So when developing exercise programming for people with autism, we borrowed many proven strategies. Some of the ABA strategies used in her training include positive reinforcement, behavior specific praise, graduating guidance, prompt hierarchies, and physical prompting. Not all these ABA strategies are required to work with each individual. The strategies are used as needed in order for each individual to be successful and progressing to their exercise programming.
Well none of these ABA strategies are specifically designed to teach exercise, they are used to increase or decrease the likelihood of individuals engaging in specific behaviors. In our case we are focusing on increasing positive and accurate exercise behaviors. A behavior is defined as anything an organism can do. So each exercise this simply a series of behaviors or an isolated behavior. So using these ABA strategies to teach exercises, makes sense.
Physical prompting and the use of prompt hierarchies are some of the more commonly used strategies in our personal training. Physical prompting is the manual manipulation of the clients body to help them perform and exercise movement properly. An example of physical prompting in personal training, would be prompting a client (at the elbows) to pull a resistance band, when performing a standing row. The client may not be able to perform this exercise movement accurately without physical prompting from the personal trainer. Overtime through the use of prompt hierarchies these physical prompts can be faded to the point where the individual can perform the exercise independently. Because programming is so individualized for each of our clients and every individual with autism presents different levels of ability, some of our clients will require more physical prompting. We aim for each individual to learn how to perform exercises independently, but for some about clients the reality is they will need some form a physical prompting to engage in safe exercise.
We also use added support’s such as visual and kinesthetic cues, as well as modified language to support our athletes in their exercise training. Visual supports is a broad term that we use to define a number of different strategies we use at Adaptive Exercise. Visual supports can be the personal trainer providing a physical model of exercise, a video model of exercise, hand, foot, or arrow markers to indicate placement/movement, and visual schedules. All of these different types of visual supports should be used only when deemed necessary by the personal trainer. An athlete who cannot perform an exercise accurately, when verbally presented instruction from the personal trainer might benefit from a physical model that exercise. Likewise this same athlete might benefit from the use of hand and foot markers to indicate where to place their body and how to move. Other forms of visual supports such as video modeling or visual schedules can help a child learn routines, and how to perform certain movements.
Kinesthetic cues are another way of teaching exercises, when verbal instruction is insufficient. They’re all sorts of different types a ways to use kinesthetic cuing within a personal training session. One of the most common approaches to kinesthetic cuing we use at Adaptive Exercise, is cueing where to move to with the personal trainers hands. An example of this would be a personal trainer using their hands to represent the target of where to move to. Say, the personal trainer is teaching a client to perform an overhead press. The personal trainer can place their hands above the clients head, the cue the client to push up to their hands. The personal trainer can also use walls, equipment or other objects as kinesthetic cues. When teaching a squat movement, the trainer may use a medicine ball or chair indicate where the client should move to. The personal trainer may say “squat to ball”, this makes the exercise expectation more clear to the client. Performing a standing squat without the use of kinesthetic cues maybe more difficult for a client who does not fully understand the expectation. This simple cue makes learning complex movements more manageable.
Modified language is one of the most unique approaches can we use at Adaptive Exercise. Founder, David Crowley started his career special education as a speech language pathologist assistant. He knew that regardless of what set of skills he was teaching, that you must account for both expressive and receptive language abilities. Many individuals with significant supportive needs on the autism spectrum, struggle with language. To account for this we used modified language when teaching exercises. Modified language is using the minimum amount of words necessary to provide instruction. A traditional personal trainer uses language as a primary mode of instruction. These instructions can be lengthy, highly detailed and complex. The language we use at Adaptive Exercise is direct and clear. Example of this would be instructing a squat pattern. Using modified language the trainer can simply state “squat to ball” and pair of this instruction with a physical model of the exercise. The language still provides a clear instruction to the client, and it is using only three words. Many of the exercise in mands we use consist of 3-5 words, and consist of only the most necessary language.
All of these strategies together account for a truly adaptive personal training program. A program designed specifically for people with autism, so that they can improve their physical in mental health and succeed in their exercise programs.