COMPARING EFFECTS OF NINTENDO EXERGAMING TO A NO INTERVENTION CONTROL GROUP

July 17, 2026 updated by: Anjana Bhat, University of Delaware

Exergaming Intervention Study

This is a pilot randomized clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of delivering a Nintendo Switch exergaming (NE group) intervention in a group of autistic youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) between 5 and 30 years compared to an age-matched, no intervention control group of autistic youth (Control group) .

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Parents of each ASD participant completed a screening form and the parent and participant completed an additional screening interview before participating in a pretest visit to confirm study eligibility.

After the motor and cognitive pretests and parent questionnaires were completed and eligibility was confirmed, each participant was randomly assigned to the Nintendo exergaming (NE) intervention or no intervention control group.

Each participant in the NE group received 8 weeks of exergaming intervention for 45-60 minutes per session @2 sessions per week. After the intervention period was completed motor and cognitive posttests and parent questionnaires were completed to assess preliminary outcomes.

We also completed feasibility and acceptability measures using parent, trainer, and child surveys.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Delaware
      • Newark, Delaware, United States, 19060
        • Health Sciences Campus, University of Delaware

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • A school or medical record of holding an autism diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Did not follow 1 to 2-step instructions at the pretest.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Nintendo Switch Exergaming
This group received 8 weeks of Nintendo Switch Exergaming Intervention @ 2 days per week for 45-60 minutes per session. Pretests and posttests were completed before and after this period.
Behavioral: Nintendo Switch Exergaming
Each exergaming intervention session included RingFit warm-up, RingFit Adventure Games to target multiple motor domains including body coordination, strength, and endurance and the Nintendo Switch Sports virtual sports targeted body coordination and visuomotor skills.
No Intervention: No Intervention Control Group
This group received 8 weeks of business as usual control period. Pretests and posttests were completed before and after this period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Performance
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
The BOT-2 is a standardized motor test that is a reliable and valid motor measure for youth between the ages of 4 to 21 years (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005). Participants' gross motor skills were assessed using the balance (BAL), bilateral coordination (BLC), strength (STN), and agility (AGIL) subtests of BOT-2. Subtests are combined to provide a body coordination (BC, includes BAL and BLC), strength/agility (SA, includes STR and AGIL) and manual coordination (MC, includes MD and ULC) composite standard score at pretest and posttest. Change in composite standard scores (BC, SA, and MC) were assessed between pretest and posttest performance.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bilateral Motor Coordination Subtest of there Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT-BMC) Battery
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
The SIPT BMC subtest assesses a youth's ability to imitate 22 novel hand and feet rhythmic actions shown by the tester. During the test, the tester asks the child to repeat bilateral rhythmic sequences of the hands or feet. An error occurrs if the youth does correctly imitate the sequence or rhythm of the tester's movements. A spatial error was scored if the youth's scale or pattern of movement differed from that of the tester. A temporal error occurred if the youth paused during the motor sequence, or moved slow/fast compared to tester. Total spatial and temporal errors were calculated across all imitated actions at pretest and posttest.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCD-Q)
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Parents completed the 15-item motor screening tool to report their child's fine- motor, gross-motor, and general coordination abilities compared to their peers. The total score at pretest and posttest were compared.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Parents completed the BRIEF to assess the youth's executive functioning skills during everyday tasks. The total score at pretest and posttest was compared.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Computerized Modified Flanker Task
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
All participants completed the Modified Flanker Task to assess the inhibitory control component of executive functioning. The task consisted of four experimental blocks, with incongruent and congruent conditions presented in random order within each block of 30 trials, with 15 incongruent and 15 congruent trials. a) Congruent: Five fish facing in the same direction, b) Incongruent: The outer four fish faced the same direction while the center fish faced the opposite direction. Participants were instructed to click the arrow button on the screen to indicate the direction of the center fish and to respond as quickly and accurately as possible. We compared the average reaction time at pretest and posttest.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
Computerized Modified Stroop Word-Color Task
Time Frame: Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.
The Stroop Task assessed the task switching, flexibility, and response inhibition components of executive functioning. The task consisted of two conditions: Color and Word. Participants were instructed to press the button on the screen to match the color of the letters shown in the color condition, or to match the spelling of the word shown in the Word condition. Each block consisted of 40 trials. Average reaction times at pretest and posttest were compared.
Pretest and posttests were conducted within 2 weeks before or after intervention, respectively.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Delaware

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 2, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 26, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

March 26, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 17, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 17, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 17, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1947455

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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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