The poor levels of fitness in children with autism are prompting concern for the children's future health. This study looked to assess if a computer-based activity programme could improve fitness levels (as reflected in cardiopulmonary function) of these children, and achieve a reduction in their body mass index. In a randomised controlled trial, 50 children with autism (of which 33 were under the age of 11 years and 39 were boys) were allocated to an intervention group which encouraged them to use the Nintendo Wii and the software package “Mario and Sonics at the Olympics” in addition to their routine physical education classes. 50 children with autism (34 under the age of 11 years and 40 being boys) acted as controls. At the end of one year, analysis of the changes in scores using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on the Eurofit fitness tests showed that the intervention group had made statistically significant improvement on all tests other than flexibility. These improvements were also significantly better than controls. This type of intervention appears to be an effective addition to standard fitness training in order to help children with autism improve their fitness levels.

Problems with social functioning are a major area of difficulty for children with autism. Such problems have the potential to exert a negative influence on several aspects of the children's functioning, including their ability to access education. Objective. This study looked to examine if a computer-based activity programme could improve the social functioning of these children. Materials and Methods. Using a pooled subject design, 100 children with autistic spectrum disorder were randomly allocated, controlling where possible for age and gender, to either an intervention or a control group. The children in the intervention group were encouraged to use the Nintendo Wii and the software package "Mario and Sonics at the Olympics" in addition to their routine school physical education classes over a nine month period. The control group attended only the routine physical education classes. Results. After one year, analysis of the changes in the scores of teacher-completed measures of social functioning showed that boys in the intervention group had made statistically significant improvement in their functioning when compared to controls. The number of girls in the study was too small for any change to reach statistical significance. Conclusion. This type of intervention appears to have potential as a mechanism to produce improvement in the social functioning, at least of boys, as part of a physical education programme.

The increasingly sedentary habits of children, and rising obesity levels, are prompting concern for children's future health. Children with autistic spectrum condition (ASC) show a clear trend in this regard. Within school, an understanding of how an individual's fitness compares to age norms is important in order to design appropriate exercise programmes. This study, by Maurice Place, Kathleen Dickinson and Joanna Reynolds, all based at Northumbria University, assessed 100 children with ASC and learning difficulty, and found a wide variation in fitness levels as measured by the Eurofit tests. In addition the measure of cardiopulmonary fitness (VO2 max) was generally poor. In boys, body mass index (BMI) showed only a modest correlation with this measure of cardio-pulmonary fitness, with the results for the girls not being significant. Using a variant of the established BMI calculation did not improve the correlation. To our knowledge this article offers the first set of published Eurofit test results for children with ASC and highlights the generally poor level of cardio-pulmonary fitness in this group of children.

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