The Impact of Group Based Activity Programmes on Children Who Have Autism and Their Families in Staffordshire

Participation in structured activities and physical activity (PA) have been linked to several indicators of positive development such as self-esteem and psychological health as well as greater academic outcomes and lower school drop-out rates. Despite this, 77% of boys and 80% of girls aged 5-15 in the UK also fall below the national physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day.

Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) may be at particular risk for inactivity. This group are more likely to experience barriers to participation in these types of activities and motor skills impairments, common in people with ASC, can further limit participation and enjoyment in PA and structured activities such as sports clubs and swimming lessons. Studies have shown that even at a young age children with ASC are less active than non-ASC children, and this physical activity gap gets wider as children get older.

Studies that have attempted to increase PA in young people with autism have shown reduction in problem behaviours such as inattention and aggression and increase in positive behaviours such as sleep, improvements in quality of life, academic performance and physical competence, and reductions in stress. However, many of these studies only worked with children 1:1 and therefore little is known about group-based activity intervention in young people with ASCs which could provide people with ASC opportunities to be physically active and as well as opportunities to socialise with others.

Parental modelling has been shown to be a predictor of children's PA behaviours with a positive correlation between adult and child PA levels. Given the influential role parents play on children's PA behaviours, parental involvement could be used as a function to increase PA in children with ASC.

It is not only young people with ASC who may struggle to access or fail to participate in sufficient PA but adults of the so called 'normal population'. In the UK, 34% of men and 42% of women do not meet the UK physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. PA and civic participation may be particularly beneficial to parents of children with ASC as parents of children with developmental disorders have been shown to report lower quality of life, more depression, higher levels of stress anxiety, and greater pessimism about the future than parents of typically developing children. As a result, parents with children who have ASC may experience lower sense of connectedness to the social world.