Effectiveness of Aerobic Exercises on the Autistic Children

Effectiveness of Aerobic Exercises on the Stereotypic Behaviors and Task Performance of Autistic Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder manifesting stereotypic behaviors and problem in communication and social interaction. Different physical therapy interventions like aerobics help to improve recurrent behaviors and task performance of autistic children. This study was focused to see the effect of jogging on the stereotypic behaviors and task performance of autistic children. A single blinded randomized study was conducted on 38 autistic children, randomly allocated to two groups, performing jogging and ball exercises. Repetitive Behavior Scale-revised(RBS-R) and Jebsen Hand Function Test (JHFT) was used for assessment. Exercise was performed for 3 weeks and 4 sessions per week.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Aerobic Exercise; Procedure: Ball Exercises

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 38
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Pakistan
  • Punjab
    • Faisalābad, Punjab, Pakistan, 38000
      • University of Faisalabad

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 20 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosed children of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by experts
2. Have recognized stereotypic behaviors
3. Age 6 to 20 years
4. Independent to walk
5. Both genders
6. Parent and teachers willing to give consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unable to understand commands
2. Have co-morbidities like schizophrenia or ADHD
3. Having respiratory or cardiovascular problems
4. Severe ASD
5. Lower limb injury and disability

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental Group	Procedure: Aerobic Exercise; Jogging was performed for 20 minutes. Jogging was performed by experimental group for 3 weeks and 4 sessions per week.; Procedure: Ball Exercises; Ball exercises like stability ball roll, stability ball hug, stability ball catching, ball throwing and ball tapping exercises were for 10 minutes. Ball exercises was performed by both groups for 3 weeks and 4 times per week .
Active Comparator: Active control Group	Procedure: Ball Exercises; Ball exercises like stability ball roll, stability ball hug, stability ball catching, ball throwing and ball tapping exercises were for 10 minutes. Ball exercises was performed by both groups for 3 weeks and 4 times per week .

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Repetitive behavior scale revised (RBS-R)	RBS-R was used to assess the stereotypic behaviors of autistic children. It is 43 items questionnaire that is placed under six subscales. The sub-scales are Stereotyped Behavior Subscale Self-Injurious Behavior Subscale Compulsive Behavior Subscale Ritualistic Behavior Subscale Sameness Behavior Subscale Restricted Behavior Subscale Each subscale has different characteristics, which are classified from 0 to 3 (behavior is severe). Moreover, each behavior is also rated that how much this behavior occurs, cause interruption in activity and how much a child become agitated when he was interrupted. Global score rating was used by calculating the scores of all the six subscales and total score was given in range of 1 to 100.	3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Jebsen Hand Function Test (JHFT)	JHFT was used to evaluate the task performance of autistic children.JHFT has seven variants and time was recorded, in seconds, taken by children to complete these seven tasks. These seven tasks are writing, card turning, small common objects, simulated feeding, stacking, lifting large lightweight objects and lifting large heavy objects. These piece of work was first performed by the non-dominant hand then by the dominant hand and at the end time required during all the task was summed up in minutes	3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Faisalabad
• Investigators: Study Director: Dr Sidra Majeed;PT, MSPP, University of Faisalabad

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 3, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 8, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): October 26, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 23, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 4, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 5, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 4, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: ASD; Physical therapy; Aerobic exercises; Autism spectrum disorder; Repetitive behaviors; Stereotypic behaviors; Jogging; Ball exercises.
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: TUF/DR/MSPP/173

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