Yoga For Autism

Physical Therapy published research on the benefits of yoga for autism. Previous research indicates that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have motor impairments such as decreased gross motor skills, fine motor skills, balance, and coordination skills. For many years, pediatric Occupational Therapists and pediatric Physical Therapists often provide services to help children with ASD improve these skills although there is limited evidence on what approach is the most successful.

Methodology of the Study on Yoga for Autism

The goal of the study on yoga for autism was the determine the effects of a physical therapy intervention for 8 weeks using creative yoga on the motor and imitation skills of children with ASD. The study included 24 children with ASD ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old. Using a pretest-postest control group design the children children with evaluated with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Performance–2nd Edition (BOT-2).

In addition, the researchers evaluated the imitation skills of children using familiar training-specific actions (ie, poses for the yoga group and building actions for the academic group).

The experimental group received the yoga intervention and the academic control group participated in several sedentary tabletop activities such as reading, arts and crafts, and building supplies such as Play-Doh, LEGO, and ZOOB.

Results of the Study on Yoga for Autism

Following the physical therapy intervention data analysis was performed to determine the benefits of yoga for autism. It indicated the following:

children in the yoga group improved gross motor performance on the BOT-2
children in the yoga group also displayed fewer imitation/praxis errors when copying training-specific yoga poses.
children in the academic group (control group) improved their fine motor performance on the BOT-2 and performed fewer imitation errors while completing the training-specific building actions.

The researchers concluded that creative interventions, such as yoga for autism, are promising tools for enhancing the motor and imitation skills of children with ASD.

Reference: Kaur, M., & Bhat, A. (2019). Creative Yoga Intervention Improves Motor and Imitation Skills of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Physical therapy, 99(11), 1520-1534.