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What does fitness really mean?
Kevin wasn’t one to finish up a chore. While gardening, he would frequently stop midway through bagging leaves or wander off when it was time to carry them. This was how it was for years.
When his mom Laura started implementing a home-based fitness program, it was to improve Kevin’s general strength and motor skills. Then there was ‘The Carry.’
While doing fall cleanup around their Northeastern US home, Laura stood yards away watching as Kevin hoisted up a heavy pile of sticks, carrying them from one side of their backyard to the other. He’d never done this before; certainly not on his own, and not with the confidence and capability demonstrated here.
Fitness occupies an odd space, as you can ask a dozen people what “fitness” means and get a dozen answers. The modern gym setup, with treadmills and machines, does not make the conversation any clearer. An underappreciated yet crucial aspect of quality of life, a general misrepresentation has left fitness at a low position for the ASD and neurodiverse population.
What fitness really is
Physical fitness is preparing the body for the challenges of everyday life. Bending/squatting, pushing, pulling, carrying, and locomotion are all part of daily living. It is easy to take these skills for granted. However, when we consider many of the strength and motor planning challenges for the ASD population, we can call into question whether these skills are fully developed.
Fitness is the ability to perform tasks safely and efficiently, and while some individuals with ASD are highly active, moving around often, a true fitness program requires structure and emphasis on building healthy movement skills. Moving around a lot or “not being overweight” are not indicators that a fitness program is unnecessary.
Fitness is the ability to push, pull, squat, carry, and locomote without inhibition or discomfort. It is about feeling good when we move and having the initiative to engage in physical activity.
What fitness (and Adapted PE) can really do
There are three components of a successful fitness/Adapted PE program. What fitness can do in a general sense is develop strength, stability, endurance, and movement skills that generalize to the real world.
Think of carrying groceries, climbing a steep set of stairs, opening a heavy door, or independence with chores. All of these require both general and specific physical skills. A meaningful fitness program focuses on the individual and builds these abilities based on current ones.
The first component is individualization. A program must meet the current physical abilities of each individual. Placing them into categories of “high” versus “low” functioning will miss some of the most important aspects of fitness programming.
The second component is exercise selection. Choosing exercises or a machine at random because “this is what we have” will not lead to great outcomes. Neither will choosing exercises that are too advanced for current physical abilities.
The third component is consistency. Developing movement skills (strength, stability, motor planning) takes time, consideration, and practice. For physical, adaptive, and cognitive reasons, maintaining ongoing fitness programming and progressing at the pace of the individual is a critical component of success.
The greatest fitness challenges for the ASD population
We’re all aware of the complications that arise from a sedentary lifestyle, and few groups I’ve ever spoken with believe it is perfectly acceptable to let this continue. Yet high-quality, meaningful fitness programming is still missing for most children, teens, and adults with ASD.
The two main obstacles are access and action: finding programs that meet each of the three challenges and taking action to implement the program.
Physical
Most of the research on physical and motor deficits among the ASD population focuses on children, however, as we all know, children with autism grow up. Most individuals I coach in my private practice are adolescents, teens, and adults.
Their physical functioning did not “automatically” improve as they aged. In fact, many of the strength and motor dysfunctions seen in childhood continue to persist into adulthood. Much as with speech or positive behavior support, fitness is also an intervention based on building skills where a gap exists.
Adaptive
The most common question I receive around Autism Fitness programming is how to motivate an athlete. Often an email will start with “My son/daughter hates to exercise…” The motivational contingency is often an obstacle to implementing a successful fitness program. The appropriate principles and practices can, over time, shift exercise from an aversive activity to the best 45 minutes of the day.
Cognitive
Forget about “high functioning” versus “low functioning”; outdated phrases that just don’t give us an appropriate amount of usable information. For the purposes of a fitness or Adapted PE Program, we want to know about neurological functioning and neuromotor functioning.
Neurological functioning refers to memory, communication, and auditory processing. Answering questions about these will lead to the highest quality interaction with our emerging athletes.
Neuromuscular functioning refers to kinesthetic awareness, body positioning, and motor planning. Answering questions about these leads us to individualized coaching that simply works best (even in a group or class environment).
The power of parents
Is your child, teen, or adult’s fitness or Adapted PE program working for them? Does it focus on general qualities of movement? Is it building real-world skills? Are the goals in line with building real-world instead of sports-based skills?
Becoming an advocate for your child’s fitness means considering their short- and long-term physical health. What can be incorporated right now that will enhance their physical capabilities and independence into and through adulthood?
While the perception of fitness programming may still be that it is “just for sport-specific athletes” or “people who want to get in shape,” the benefits of consistent, progressive, resistance-based programming cannot be ignored. Whether a parent or self-advocate, you can include or improve fitness programming in any environment.
What you can do as a parent
Imagine a world in which those with ASD were more physically capable and confident to navigate their days and the challenges of daily living. Fitness, done right, can greatly realize this scenario. Fitness “fits” right into this equation.
Generalizing or “carrying over” skills is one of the biggest challenges for the ASD population. A more active lifestyle that promotes greater physical abilities and independence starts with a great adapted PE program but does not end there.
Introducing a fitness program in the home can promote faster skill acquisition, provide a healthy alternative to “screen time,” and be an opportunity for meaningful connection between parents and children (of any age).
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