A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body
I always make sure now that daily Adapted Physical Education (APE) is written into Charlie’s IEP. Around 10.30am every morning he does “fitness” (calisthetics and walking/running), soccer, bowling, yoga (his favorite) and other activities; his PE teacher is trained to teach autistic special needs kids. In previous schools he had PE maybe once a week (one year, it was at Friday around 1.30pm). I realize now how important it is for Charlie (and any child, I think!) to have PE daily: Moving around and “thinking with other parts of his body” are essential for Charlie’s learning at his desk.
I was very interested to read this website on bringing fitness into the lives of autistic children by Eric Chessen, who identifies himself as a “Fitness Therapist, NASM-PES, and is currently completing his M.S. in Exercise Physiology” on FitCommerce.com. He writes:
As individuals on the autism spectrum do differ greatly in their abilities, both cognitive and physiological, it is important that exercise programs reflect and account for the needs of the individual. From a physiological perspective, there is typically little variation in the “needs and deficits” area. In my experience, most young individuals with autism (ages 6-12) present a compromised or imbalanced gait, difficulty during level change (squatting, bending), poor motor control during compound movement, and an aversion to dynamic activities (climbing, running, jumping).
Gross motor assessment of an individual with autism reads like stereo instructions. With different behaviors to account for, types of movement to consider, and maintaining a motivating, reinforcing environment, the task can seem daunting. To efficiently transition from initial assessment to exercise implementation, I satisfy for the 3G’s.
Those “3G’s” are gaze, gait, and grip; Chessen describes how he accesses autistic kids’ physical condition and suggests some basic fitness activities (hurdles, push-ups). It’s only been in the past two or so years that Charlie has caught a ball fairly consistently. We’ve often noted that, while eyes are looking at the ball, he often raises his hands a few second to late—not so easy to coordinate hand, eye, and mind. And his grip is weak (based on seeing how he holds a pencil or pen; he does get a good hold on the cello bow).
Charlie is already a strong biker and swimmer and we hope to teach him to run around a track this summer—maybe we’ll be adding push-ups to the regimen, too.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, balls, disabilities blog, exercise, Family, family blog, fitness, p.e., Parenting, pdd-nos, Sports, yoga
7 opinions for A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body
Joeymom
May 28, 2008 at 7:51 pm
We’re planning to hire a personal trainer for Joey this summer at our gym. Seems like a lot of the special ed kids around here are looking a little round- too much desk time, not enough PE, coupled with school lunches (which are stuffed with carbs and fat! What are these “nutritionists” THINKING? Folks, ketchup is NOT a vegetable!!!). Also, its good for him to keep moving. We’ve noticed some issues with his endurance and stamina, especially holding his trunk upright, and the OT has even made some new goals to address it, it is so noticeable- especially when he runs. Its not just “running like a girl,” its like he can’t keep his body moving in the same direction at once.
Our schools have PE three times a week. The other two days they have art and music.
Bonnie Sayers
May 28, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I finally met the Adaptive PE teacher Matt has had this year and he also has the middle school I want him to attend on his schedule. He told me that one week is three days and the next two days of PE for 85 minutes. He wants Matt to practice push ups and the exercise bike. Matt’s goal was to kick the ball and next year it will be to throw the ball. He has skipping, galloping and running down pat.
I learned today at the IEP that the autism class gets dressed in Locker room same time as gen ed students. I am so glad we now have a male assistant and the Adaptive PE teacher told me he has been taking kids to locker room 10 minutes earlier.
He also said the teachers are voting today to change school hours to go in earlier. Figures that I wanted this school due to their late hours 8:30 - 3:30 instead of the other ones that have homeroom at 7:24.
Another change beside the locker room is the gym uniform. I think Matt would do better in sweats instead of shorts since they have to lay on the grass and do things. I am going to need at least 5 pairs of gym shorts.
Since Matt is not toilet trained I prefer him to wear the gym shorts under his school uniform and hope it works out that he can tolerate it. I think it would be like deep pressure in the trunk.
Bonnie Sayers
May 28, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I forgot to mention about Yoga. I got a book in the mail today that I ordered on amazon about yoga and I have a video on my wish list on yoga also. Teacher and Adaptive PE thought it was a good idea to try. They go bowling with summer camp too.
Bonnie Sayers
May 28, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I just got my PE Central Newsletter. Here is the site in case you do not get this already:
http://www.pecentral.org/index.html
Marla
May 28, 2008 at 10:06 pm
We don’t do any groups or classes for physical activities anymore. But, we make sure exercise is an important part of M’s life. We may have to look into physical therapy again though. Still having gait problems and some issues with her back. I would love to get her into a bowling group. It is so hard with her cyclical vomiting syndrome to join something and be able to stick to it.
Karen
May 29, 2008 at 12:01 am
Pete gets adaptive PE 2x a week (and has for the past 3 years!) and I’m also lucky that his teacher does a “motor group” daily under the instruction of an OT. Pete’s motor skills have greatly improved this past year.
Pete also has low muscle tone (anybody else out there with this challenge? I’m told it often goes along with neurological issues) and is a kid with natural low activity level. So I do have to push him to use his leisure time for doing active things. We’ve got swimming lessons this summer and hopefully lots of pool time, too, to keep him active when he’s out of school.
Andrea
May 29, 2008 at 5:33 am
I never thought to have physical education put into my son’s IEP! But ironically, his OT approached me recently about adding physical therapy to his IEP - so maybe I’ll push for it then. I often wondered why the special needs class was only getting gym twice a week - they (as do the rest of the school) need to move! I remember having a gym class every day in highschool.
I’m a yoga teacher, but it’s hard for me to get Gus to do yoga at home. He’s done great in yoga classes though - he loves it! I should offer to go into his school regularly to work with his class.
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