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Brief Report: A Specialized Fitness Program for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Benefits Physical, Behavioral, and Emotional Outcomes

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Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in less physical activity than typically-developing peers. This can result in serious negative consequences for individual well-being and may contribute to the physical, behavioral, and emotional challenges associated with ASD. This study explored the potential benefits of trainer-led, individualized, physical fitness sessions specialized for ASD. Eleven individuals (ages 7–24 years) with ASD were assessed at baseline and following 15 fitness sessions. Participants demonstrated improvements in core and lower-body strength and reductions in restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, along with non-significant but marked reductions in issues with daytime sleepiness. Results suggest the merit of specialized fitness programs and emphasize the need for larger and more rigorous research studies on this topic.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Adam Leapley and the staff at the ASD Fitness Center for their support in this study. We are grateful to all the children and families who participated in this study. Grants supporting this research include NIMH 5T32 MH018268, NIMH K23 MH086785, R21 MH091309, U19 MH108206, R01 MH107426, and R01 MH100173 (JM). The funding sources had no involvement in the implementation of study design or manuscript writing process.

Funding

Grants supporting this research include NIMH 5T32 MH018268, NIMH K23 MH086785, R21 MH091309, U19 MH108206, R01 MH107426, and R01 MH100173 (JM). The funding sources had no involvement in the implementation of study design or manuscript writing process.

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  1. Scott L. J. Jackson

    Present address: Office of Assessment and Analytics, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven, CT, 06515, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, 40 Temple Street, Suite 6A2, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Scott L. J. Jackson, Emily A. Abel, Shara Reimer & James C. McPartland

Authors
  1. Scott L. J. Jackson
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Contributions

SJ and JMP contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by SJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SJ, EA, and SR. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James C. McPartland.

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Conflict of interest

James C. McPartland consults with Customer Value Partners, Bridgebio, Determined Health, and BlackThorn Therapeutics, has received research funding from Janssen Research and Development, serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Pastorus and Modern Clinics, and receives royalties from Guilford Press, Lambert, and Springer. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was approved by the Yale University’s Human Subjects Committee (IRB Protocol ID: 2000021597).

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Jackson, S.L.J., Abel, E.A., Reimer, S. et al. Brief Report: A Specialized Fitness Program for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Benefits Physical, Behavioral, and Emotional Outcomes. J Autism Dev Disord 54, 2402–2410 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05646-4

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