Physical education program for schoolchildren with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Programs focusing on a single type of physical activity may not be suitable for schoolchildren with ASD as they fail to provide sufficient variety of means, which can lead to decreased interest in physical education and one-sided development of children. The issue of meaningful content development in physical education programs to improve the quality of life, psycho-physical, and social development of schoolchildren with ASD remains inadequately addressed. Research Objective: To develop a physical education program aimed at improving the quality of life and psycho-physical and social development of schoolchildren with ASD. Methods. To justify the content and structure of the physical education program prioritizing the development of coordination abilities of children with ASD, levels of quality of life indicators, physical fitness, and adaptive behavior of children with ASD were determined; relationships between them were established; indicators for boys and girls were compared. To assess the effectiveness of the physical education program, a pedagogical experiment was conducted. Nineteen boys and five girls participated in it. Throughout the academic year, children followed the program prioritizing the development of coordination abilities. Results. A low level of physical fitness, adaptability, and quality of life indicators in children with ASD was established, requiring effective ways to improve them. Based on the results obtained, the structure and content of the physical education program for children with ASD with a priority focus on the use of means for developing coordination abilities were justified. The program differed from traditional ones by focusing on the development of all muscle groups, a wide range of means from various sports. The volume of exercises prioritizing the development of coordination abilities was 55%, they were used in all parts of physical education lessons throughout the academic year in the content of educational material of all optional modules and in homework; various sports equipment and musical accompaniment were used. Some means were excluded as children with ASD were unable to perform them. The educational program was nominally built on a modular system, containing an invariant (mandatory) and a variable component. The invariant part included: theoretical- methodological knowledge and general physical training, the content of which was implemented during each lesson. However, the material of variable modules was implemented not sequentially, but simultaneously in all lessons. Material from three variable modules (games, athletics, gymnastics) and physical training was combined in one lesson. Conclusions. The author's physical education program contributed not only to a significant improvement in their level of development but also to the speed strength and endurance of various muscle groups of boys with ASD; it was effective (p=0.01) in improving the cognitive component of the quality of life of boys with autism spectrum disorders; significant positive changes occurred in boys' vision (p<0.05). Most indicators did not change statistically significantly but tended to improve. The absence of significant changes in the results may be due to a large spread around the arithmetic mean.