Can Participation in a Community Organized Football Program Improve Social, Behavioural Functioning and Communication in
- PDF / 1,085,959 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 37 Downloads / 216 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Can Participation in a Community Organized Football Program Improve Social, Behavioural Functioning and Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Pilot Study Katherine Howells1 · Carmel Sivaratnam1 · Ebony Lindor1 · Christian Hyde1,2 · Jane McGillivray1 · Andrew Whitehouse3 · Nicole Rinehart1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This pilot research investigated the effects of a community-based organized football program on behavioral, social and communicative outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In a non-randomized design, 19 children completed the football program and were compared pre- and post-intervention with 21 children who received no comparable intervention (ages 5–12 years). Caregiver-report using the child behavior checklist indicated a significant decrease in total, internalizing, DSM-oriented anxiety and social problems for children who participated in the program, with no change in the comparison group. There were no group differences in socialization and communication scores on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior scale. Results provide preliminary evidence in support of the program, justifying the need for further, more rigorous trials in this area. Keywords ASD · Organized physical activity · Football · Social functioning · Internalizing · Externalizing
Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterised by difficulties with social interactions and verbal/non-verbal communication (American Psychiatric Association 2013). These social features are often accompanied by co-morbidities such as fine-and-gross motor impairments (Liu and Breslin 2013) and higher levels of emotional and behavioral problems (Chandler et al. 2016; Simonoff et al. 2008). More specifically, individuals with ASD are at a greater risk of exhibiting externalizing disturbances such as disruptive behaviors (Tonge et al. 1999) and internalizing problems such as elevated levels of depression (Matson and Nebel-Schwalm 2007) and anxiety (Gillott et al. 2001; Van Steensel et al. * Katherine Howells [email protected] 1
Deakin Child Study Centre, School of Psychology Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2
Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
3
Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
2011). Research has established an overlap between the neural regions of the brain implicated in areas such as emotional regulation, (which is linked internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Sivaratnam et al. 2015)) and social functioning, for example; evidence from lesion studies indicates damage to prefrontal regions e.g. orbitofrontal cortex can lead to behavioral, social and emotional regulation changes (Bramham et al. 2009). Motor functions, similarly rely strongly on frontal regions, suggesting these links may also extend to motor domains. Interconnections between motor impairments
Data Loading...
