Not Enough Evidence?

From the BMC Research Notes

"Without doubt, physical activity interventions for children with autism consistently show positive outcomes but the evidence is limited, which makes it hard to draw conclusions. In a recent review of physical activity interventions, a total of 18 studies were found, collectively only 64 participants received a physical activity intervention (across all 18 studies) [9]. The combination of limited descriptive and intervention-based studies in physical activity, along with an astounding rate of obesity in children with autism clearly displays a gap in the literature and a need to address such critical deficits."

MacDonald, M., Esposito, P.,Ulrich, D. (2011). BMC Research Notes 2011, 4:422. Taken from http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1756-0500-4-422.pdf


There is plenty of research that shows that exercise is beneficial for people in general.  Perhaps that is the reason why not much specific research related to autism is documented.  It would seem logical, however, that an exercise program for children with autism that relates directly to Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and a person's Behaviour Plan may warrant some research.

Vigorous activity utilises the energy stores of the body.  This can be advantageous to setting establishing operations (EOs) for introducing non-preferred foods (an exercised body is a hungry body).

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