AUTISM HEALTH
Forms of Exercise
When looking at how to incorporate exercise into
one’s daily routines, it is important to approach tasks
with your child’s abilities and interests in mind. If
your child is aversive to catching a ball, perhaps hold
off on basketball as the activity to target exercise!
Work with your child’s clinicians and teachers to find
a just-right motor challenge or shape an existing skill
into something more. All of the activities below can
be modified or adapted in some way to meet your
child’s needs.
Bike riding: stationary bike, adapted tricycle, or
regular bike
Running: partner running, treadmill, enclosed
track
Swimming
Indoor rock climbing
Hiking
Karate
Ball skills
• Soccer (kick to a target, dribbling around a
cone, kick to a peer)
• Basketball (dribbling, passing, bounce/
catch)
• Baseball/T-ball
Exercise Cards (pushups, jumping jacks,
yoga)
Exercise is possible regardless of one’s ability level!
With visual supports like cones and cue cards, modi-
fied materials like using bean bags for tossing versus
tennis balls for throwing, and partner-assisted skill
building, it’s possible to backward chain harder skills
to set kids up for success each step of the way.
Planning for Exercise
For some children and families, exercise plans are in-
cluded as part of the Individualized Education Plan
(IEP). This can define the expectation for an active
approach to learning and dictates that movement
be regularly incorporated into the school day above
and beyond the typical recess and gym schedules.
Not all families or educational teams feel this is nec-
essary. However, it is an available option to plan for
exercise within an IEP.
Some school-based physical therapists, occupa-
tional therapists, and adaptive physical education
teachers have found support using Exercise Buddy, a
cross-platform app program which was designed to
support fitness and behavior in people with autism.
Tips and Takeaways
Exercise has benefits for the general population as
well as those with ASD. Incorporating, directly teach-
ing, and planning for exercise to be part of a typical
day will support your child’s social, motor, regula-
tion, and behavioral skills. There is an opportunity,
regardless of ability level, for all children to find an
activity suited for exercise, so get out, get moving,
and let us know what works for your child!
Resources
1. “Healthy Schools.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Jan. 2017. Web. 08
Sept. 2017.
2. Curtin C, Bandini LG, Perrin E, Tybor DJ, Must A. Prevalence of
overweight in children and adolescents with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders: a chart re-
view. BMC Pediatr. 2005; 5: 48.
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