Autism and Physical Therapy
Autism is a developmental disorder that occurs on a spectrum. This just means that each child will be affected differently. Common signs and symptoms of autism include trouble with social and communication skills. However, in many cases, a child with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) has some level of motor skill delay.
Motor Skills Delays in Children with Autism
Motor skills are what we use daily to move around and interact with our environment. Motor skills are broken down into fine motor and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are the more delicate movements such as manipulating the hand and fingers. Gross motor skills are the larger daily movements like running, skipping, or jumping. Physical therapy addresses delays or deficits in gross motor skills. A motor delay simply means that a child isn’t developing the appropriate motor skills at the recommended age level.
Children with autism often have trouble with muscle tone, coordination, balance, endurance, motor planning, reciprocal play (such as playing catch), postural control, and imitation. These are not only crucial skills for daily living, but they also allow a child to participate in peer activities, which is one of the best ways to learn and understand social interactions.
Motor skills and physical activity are a crucial part of a child’s life. This activity can be simple actions such as walking, skipping, jumping, or running, or can be more advanced movements like throwing, catching, or kicking. This movement takes place daily at home and school. Children use gym or recess times to get some physical activity in, reset their minds, calm down their bodies, and interact with other children. By helping to work on motor skills with children with ASD, a PT (Physical Therapist) is helping a child to be able to participate more fully in all aspects of their lives.
How a Physical Therapist Helps Improve Motor Function
A PT's job is to treat a child with autism to improve their motor function. A PT will focus on gross motor skills rather than fine motor skills, which are usually addressed by occupational therapy. If your child has an autism diagnosis, therapy is usually multi-disciplined, meaning that therapists from different specialties work together to create a treatment plan for your child. This can be speech, occupational, and physical therapy.
A PT is going to evaluate any motor delays and create a treatment plan to address those deficits to help your child be able to function as best as they can. Sometimes children don’t automatically acquire certain skills that most children acquire naturally. Many times, they just need to be taught how to learn those skills, and that’s where a PT comes in. A PT will also be able to evaluate what is causing different motor delays, such as poor postural support and control, balance, coordination, etc. They can then help a child improve the development of these skills.
At-Home Carryover
Physical therapy will usually take place once or twice a week. Another aspect of a PT’s job is to educate you as the parent on how to help your child continue to develop these skills at home. Since therapy is limited, your child needs to be able to apply the skills they’re learning outside of therapy. A therapist will work with you on what you can do at home to help, and advise you through the entire process. They’ll also be able to answer any questions or struggles that you may have. At-home carryover can be in the form of short exercises, games, or activities to help promote motor development. It can also be advice on how to entice or encourage activity, such as how to get your child to walk if they’re not yet walking.
Exercise Groups
A great way to encourage physical activity is through programs designed specifically for children with autism or other developmental delays. These groups not only work on promoting physical activity, but they can also improve social and communication skills. Different groups and camps geared towards those with developmental delays help because they will teach a child in a way they can understand.
Physical activity programs for children with autism have been shown to lead to Improved social and communication skills, muscular strength and endurance, Gross and fine motor skills, Hand-eye and eye-foot coordination, balance, and coordination.1 They are also a great way to continue applying techniques learned in therapy in everyday life and build a healthy foundation for your child’s future.
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1. Healy, Sean. “Autism and Exercise: Special Benefits, Autism Speaks, 5 September 2018, https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/autism-exercise-benefits.
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Glumac, Lori, et al. “Physical Therapy Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder,” ChoosePT, revised 29 November 2021, https://www.choosept.com/guide/physical-therapy-guide-autism-spectrum-disorder.
Healy, Sean. “Autism and Exercise: Special Benefits, Autism Speaks, 5 September 2018, https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/autism-exercise-benefits.
Ries, Eric. “Physical Therapy for People With Autism,” APTA, 1 July 2018, https://www.apta.org/apta-magazine/2018/07/01/physical-therapy-for-people-with-autism.