Taekwondo for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Taekwondo for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Impact on Social Interaction Skills in Everyday Life

This study uses a mixed methods design to understand the effectiveness of using taekwondo as an intervention for children with ASD and its effect on social interaction skills and everyday life. Qualitative research emphasizes that meaning can be explained and interpreted only by those who experience it. A pretest-posttest design will be used to describe what occurs after the introduction of the taekwondo intervention and understand the changes that occur after exposure. Collecting information through the lived experiences and observations from the parents will be collated with the pre and post results of the children participants' social interaction skills.

Qualitative data will be collected through pre and post semi-structured interviews with the parents to understand their observations of their child before and after completing the taekwondo program. Interviews will also be conducted with the child to understand their perspectives on physical activity participation. Interview questions will also explore how the effectiveness of the program has impacted the children's engagement in daily activities.

Quantitative research will be collected through pre and post results from the Autism Social Skills Profile-2 ([ASSP] assessment that will be completed by the parents. The ASSP-2 provides a comprehensive measure of social functioning for children and adolescents with ASD.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Taekwondo

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 6
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Loma Linda, California, United States, 92354
      • Loma Linda University Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years to 9 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
• Able to follow and understand English verbal instructions during the screening process.
• No experience or prior experience with martial arts.
• Able to walk and move without using adaptive equipment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Physical disabilities that would prevent participation in taekwondo (e.g. wheelchair bound)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Children with autism spectrum disorder	Behavioral: Taekwondo; Children will participate in a 7-week taekwondo program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Subject response to taekwondo	Autism Social Skills Profile-2 (ASSP-2) will be administered at baseline prior to taekwondo instruction and then administered again at week 7. The ASSP-2 has 49 items and each are rated on a 4-point Likert scale with a minimum score of 1 representing never and a maximum score 4 representing very often for each item. This is a composite measurement. The scale ranges from a total raw score of 49 to a maximum of 196. There are three subscales: 20 social/emotional reciprocity (SER) items, 11 structured play activity (SPA) items, and 11 detrimental social behaviors (DSB) items. One component skill is measured as both an SER and SPA subscale. Standard scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. The higher the scores for each section means that the child does not have difficulties with social skills for that subscale. The lower the scores shows a deficit in each area.	Change between baseline and week 7.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Loma Linda University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Julie Kugel, Loma Linda University Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 11, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 20, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): February 10, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 9, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 11, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 6, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 4, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder; occupational therapy; taekwondo; Social interaction skills; child participants
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Disease; Autistic Disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive
• Other Study ID Numbers: 5180418

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No