Sports-based interventions may improve motor skills in children with autism

Research suggests that more than half of children with autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental condition, experience motor impairments. An analysis in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology indicates that sports-based interventions may improve motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder, with martial arts and aquatic training demonstrating the most consistent benefits.

The analysis was based on data from 11 clinical trials of various sports. Martial arts demonstrated consistently large improvements in balance, total motor skills, and object control skills, with especially strong effects in Tai Chi Chuan and kata programs. Aquatic training demonstrated large improvements across balance, locomotor skills, and object control skills. Gymnastics and trampoline interventions demonstrated large improvements in balance and bilateral coordination, with additional effects on total motor scores in trampoline studies. Table tennis produced broad gross motor improvements, and Australian football had a large effect on object control skills and had a medium effect on balance and total motor skills. Across all sports categories, balance was the most consistently improved motor domain.

The authors noted that many of the studies had significant limitations, however, and higher-quality studies are needed.

Organized sports-based interventions may offer benefits beyond recreation for children with autism by supporting motor skill development. While our review identified promising effects, particularly for martial arts and aquatic training, larger and more rigorous studies are needed to confirm these benefits and guide evidence-based recommendations.”

Sonia Khurana, PT, PhD, corresponding author, Old Dominion University