November 2009 Vol. 1, Issue 10 (PDF - 16.2Mb) - Department of ...

Many typically developing
children derive pleasure, fitness
and friendship from playing
sport and being physically
active. And quite often, parents and teachers
believe that encouraging a child with ASD
(autism spectrum disorder) to participate in
sport is a good way to increase their social skills.
Unfortunately, there are many elements of
ASD that can make exercise and sports
participation more difficult for these children
than for their peers.
Although it’s not a key feature needed for
diagnosis of ASD, many children on the
spectrum have pronounced difficulties with
fine and gross motor coordination. During the
preschool years, many children with ASD require
structured teaching in fine motor skills such as
drawing (and later, writing), and gross motor
skills, such as the balance, coordination and
motor planning required to run and climb.
Many other factors may compound the problem
of sports participation for children with ASD,
including their difficulties with imitation. Many
sports instructors use demonstration as a way to
teach players new skills. Liane Holliday Willey
is an adult with Asperger’s syndrome, who in
her book Pretending to be Normal speaks of her
difficulty imitating the actions of the instructor
in aerobics classes.
It is theorised that individuals
with ASD have difficulties with
the planning, organisation and
execution of tasks, including
those that involve planning
a sequence of physical
movements.
This is particularly true of having an instructor
stand in front of a child, facing them, and
demonstrating a skill that requires ‘mirroring’
(copying with the right hand, when this
corresponds visually with the child’s left side of
the body). Suggested ways to help are standing
next to the child and demonstrating the skill
in front of a mirror, or standing in front of the
child, but facing away from them, so in both
instances the child can copy the action with the
left or right side of the body without having to
reverse which limb is used in comparison with
the instructor.
Children are required to follow instructions
when learning a new game or sport. A key
difficulty for children with ASD is the problems
they experience with language comprehension.
One helpful strategy is to use visual supports,
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such as pictures of what actions need to be
completed. Another solution to help a child with
ASD understand how they should move their
body is to physically guide them through the
actions – as long as the child will tolerate touch.
If a child is reluctant, always warn them first
before touch is used, and try to use firm rather
than light touch.
Another way to improve a
student’s tolerance of exercise
is to gradually increase physical
activity, such as by slowly
building on the time or
distance a child walks.
It is theorised that individuals with ASD have
difficulties with the planning, organisation and
execution of tasks, including those that involve
planning a sequence of physical movements. Such
planning is referred to as ‘executive functioning’,
controlled by the brain’s frontal lobe. A child
with ASD may need assistance in recognising
and carrying out the ‘steps’ involved in a physical
action, such as throwing a ball. This may be aided
by visual supports, such as pictures, or depending
on the child’s level of literacy, listing the steps
in written form, practicing each one and then
‘chaining’ the steps together (see box).
Children with ASD can experience high levels
of anxiety. A student with ASD might be
anxious about their heart beating too fast when
they engage in physical activity, thinking that
they will die, or something else that is similarly
catastrophic will happen. The student may be
anxious about the sensory sensation of becoming
hot and then sweating. Such children may need
to participate in low impact activities, such as
walking or swimming, or be reassured about the
normality of their heart rate increasing when
exercising (see box).
Another way to improve a student’s tolerance
of exercise is to gradually increase physical
activity, such as by slowly building on the time
or distance a child walks. Ironically, exercise
participation can help anxious students with
ASD, as the endorphin rush experienced after
exercise can be soothing and calming for an
anxious child, so even a gradual, small increase in
physical exertion is beneficial in the long run.
Associated with anxiety in ASD can be a need
for perfectionism, especially in children with
Asperger’s syndrome. They might expect that
they can play like an elite athlete the first time
they play a sport, and become discouraged and
quit when this does not occur. In team sports,
the student with ASD might become fixated on
everyone following the rules, and become overly