Exercise and Cognition in Children With ASD

Summary

Physical exercise is widely reported to be beneficial to executive functions (EFs) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the impact of physical exercise on self-regulation (SR) in this population remains unknown. Moreover, very few studies have been done to examine the mechanism(s) that underlie the exercise-EF and exercise-SR relationships. The purposes of the present study were to test whether two types of physical exercise (cognitively engaging vs. non-cognitively engaging) benefited SR, and if the social, emotional and physical needs of an individual mediated the exercise-EF and exercise-SR relationships. Children diagnosed with ASD were randomly assigned into one of three groups: learning to ride a bicycle (n = 23), stationary cycling (n = 19) or an active control with walking (n = 22). Two EFs (flexibility and inhibition), SR and the mediating roles of perceived social support, enjoyment, stress, physical self-efficacy and perceived physical fitness were assessed.

Conditions

• Cognitive Impairment
• Child Autism

Interventions

OTHER

Bicycle learning

The 10 intervention sessions were conducted in an identical format, comprising three activities: warm-up (10 min), bicycle learning (40 min), and cool-down (10 min). In the bicycle training activity, participants were asked to ride on a training bicycle with training wheels to gain better control of the bike in a gradual way. Participants then progressed from the training bicycle to a two-wheel bicycle. To keep participants on the learning curve, they were asked to ride through an obstacle course that was progressively more difficult to negotiate. The obstacles were designed by a focus group, which consisted of four physical education teachers from participating schools and one experienced cycling coach with more than five years of coaching experience.

OTHER

Stationary cycling

The 10 intervention sessions were conducted in an identical format, comprising three activities: warm-up (10 min), stationary cycling (40 min), and cool-down (10 min). For stationary cycling activity, they were also asked every 10 mins during exercise to indicate their ratings of perceived exertion (target range: 3-5). Participants were positively reinforced verbally with compliments for their efforts in the training program and their daily improvements were visualized through graphs kept in the child's home.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• San Francisco State University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of California, Riverside

  collaborator OTHER

• Education University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

8 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-03-01

Primary Completion

2022-05-28

Completion

2022-06-03

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations