The Effects of Physical Activity and Exergaming on Motor Skills and Executive Functions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Objective: This study aims at investigating the effects of two types of interventions, Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) and exergaming (Kinect), on motor skills (MS) and executive functions (EF) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Materials and Methods: Sixty children, aged 6-10 years were randomly assigned to SPARK (n = 20), Kinect (n = 20), or a control group (n = 20). Children's MS and EF were assessed before and after the intervention. The SPARK and Kinect groups participated in an 8-week intervention; the control group received treatment as usual. Intention-to-treat repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the effects of the intervention. Results: For MS, a significant group X time interaction was observed for aiming and catching skills [F(2, 53) = 4.12, P < 0.05]; the SPARK group improved significantly from pre-to post-test compared with the other groups. For EF, a main effect of group was found for correct responses [F(2, 53) = 5.43, P < 0.01]. The Kinect group showed more correct responses than the SPARK and control groups. A main effect of time was significant for conceptual responses [F(1, 53) = 10.61, P < 0.01] and perseverative errors [F(1, 53) = 14.31, P < 0.01]. Conclusion:This study suggests that structured physical activity (PA) interventions that target specific MS improve motor function in children with ASD and exergaming could be effective for improving EF. Future research is needed to untangle the interaction between the type of exercise, traditional PA versus exergaming, and the dose associated with improvements in MS and EF in children with ASD.

Effects of Cognitive Training Programs on Executive Function in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…A total of four studies used a sample size greater than 50 subjects [68,90,93,94]; 50% of the studies reported participants who terminated the intervention before the hypothesized end [67,68,85,86,92,[95][96][97][98][99][100] with drop-out percentages ranging from 5,5% [86] to 45,8% [96]. Data lost during the study were in some cases analyzed by applying the principle of Intention To Treat (ITT) that resulted in a percentage of data lost ranging from 6% [94] to 26% [68].…”

The Non-Fitness-Related Benefits of Exergames for Young Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…Overall, most studies reported that exergaming produced several benefits for young individuals diagnosed with ASD. Collins et al (2015), Flynn and Colon (2016), Rafiei Milajerdi et al (2020) all noted improvements in EF following their exergame-based interventions. Both Collins and Hilton utilised the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) to measure changes in EF and both observed improvements in all areas of the inventory.…”

“…However, two were within-subject experimental designs with an A-B-A exposure (Anderson-Hanley et al, 2011;Chung et al, 2015), one was a two-arm parallel single-blinded trial (Lau et al, 2020), and another was a mixedmethods observational study (Pope et al, 2019). Only one study included in this review was a randomised controlled trial (Rafiei Milajerdi et al, 2020). The BRIEF overall score, the global executive composite, showed a significant improvement (p < .05).…”

“…Flynn and Colon, (2016) and Anderson-Hanley et al (2011) both used a single, 20-minute intervention session to assess the effect of their chosen dance-based exergame on participant's EF, repetitive behaviours, and cognition. In comparison, Rafiei Milajerdi et al (2020) conducted their interventions across 8 weeks, in which participants were required to complete several sessions of their chosen exergame;…”

“…However, they are not without their limitations. Out of ten studies, only two included a control group; the first was a randomised controlled trial (Rafiei Milajerdi et al, 2020) and the second was a two-arm, single-blinded trial (Lau et al, 2020). One other study included an active comparison task for children to also complete (Pope et al, 2019).…”