Exercise and Autism

Exercise is very important for all of us, but in Children with autism it is especially important because of the many health benefits it can provide. Some of these include: Helping improve the child's attention span, improvement in inappropriate behaviors and help with continuing staying on task with projects and other work. Exercise also has been shown to help reduce aggressive and repetitive behaviors.

Children on the autism spectrum experience problems in several areas: Fine motor skills, sensory integration issues, poor attention span, poor coordination, slow reaction times and difficulties with visual tracking of moving objects.

Children with sensitive sensory issues, a common disorder associated with autism, may initially have an especially hard time with physical exercise and find it difficult to cope with the increased visual, auditory and tactile stimulation that goes with being outdoors in wide open spaces or in an enclosed, noisy gym with others.

Discomfort from increased stimuli causes additional behaviors like hand-flapping, out bursts, pacing, avoiding eye contact, and not readily accepting affection and instruction from others. This can make it initially much more difficult to attend and participate in an exercise programs, but usually improves with time as the child gets used to the new activities.

Many autistic children have great difficulty with changes in routine and transferring from one activity to another. Unexpected changes are especially hard as is social interaction with others. These children experience various levels of deficit in interpersonal relationships and find it very hard to initiate play with others, especially peers. They also experience low levels of physical fitness as well as low levels of motivation and are frequently overweight, clumsy and slow moving.

The Vestibular System, located in the inner ear, is responsible for our sense of balance, coordination and eye movements. Individuals with autism frequently have difficulty in this area. Exercise such as dancing, cartwheels, swinging, rolling, hanging upside down, spinning, rocking and somersaulting help improve balance and coordination as well as eye coordination. These movements involve moving the head in many different ways which stimulate the vestibular system.

Balancing both sides of the body, called bilateral integration, is important for autistic children as they experience this condition frequently. Some exercises to help accomplish bilateral integration are: Crawling, playing musical instruments, playing hopscotch, skipping, and bouncing balls with both hands.

Eye and hand coordination can be improved by activities that involve hitting with a bat, popping bubbles, catching and throwing a ball, balloons or beanbags.

Integrating an exercise program in every autistic child's schedule should be a high priority.