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Exercise, Academic Engagement and Children with Autism

Pediatric Physical Therapy published research exploring whether participation in aerobic exercise before classroom activities improves academic engagement and reduces stereotypic behaviors in 4 classrooms of  24 children (ages 3-6 years old)  with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: This study consisted of a treatment condition of 15 minutes of  aerobic exercise followed by a classroom task and a control […]

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Self Care Skills – Predictor of Employment Success for Individuals with Autism

Recent research studied survey responses, interviews and basic self care assessments of basic daily tasks, such as bathing, brushing their teeth, cleaning and preparing meals, of 81 adults with moderate to severe autism. The results indicated the following: 1.  only 45% were employed. 2.  after taking into account symptom severity and communication ability, having good self-care […]

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Motor Development in Children at Risk for Autism

Longitudinal research was published evaluating the development of 20 children at risk for developing autism (older sibling diagnosed with autism).  Each child was completed motor, face processing, IQ and diagnostic assessments at 9 months and 40 months of age and an additional follow up assessments at ages 5-7 years old. The results indicated the following: […]

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Physical Status, Feeding Behavior and Autism

Recent research was published to investigate the physical status and feeding behavior among 23 children with autism, ages 5-16 years old (higher enrollment of males).  A 3 day food record was collected using a parent questionnaire, the Brief Assessment of Mealtime Behavior Inventory, the Food Preference Inventory and nutrient intake.  Physical status was evaluated using height, […]

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Postural Care A to Z Free Resource

Another great resource found on Facebook.  This resource was shared by Sparkle Occupational Therapy.  It is an award winning document entitled The A to Z of Postural Care from the University of Kent.  The document discusses various types of adaptive equipment, manual handling, emotional support, inclusive education and the golden rules about equipment use.  Then […]

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Personal Space Journey – Body Awareness Freebie

Here is a freebie page from Personal Space Journey which is a collection of activities to teach children about maintaining personal space.  You can download the body cards at https://www.yourtherapysource.com/personalspacejourneyfreebie.html Here are some suggestions to use the cards for: 1.  Musical Body Poses:  Scatter the cards around the room.  Move to music.  Turn the music off. […]

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Database for Rehabilitation Measures – Most are FREE!

In my Facebook feed, HeartSpace Physical Therapy for Children , shared a link to a database of over 200 rehabilitation measures.  Many of them are FREE and available in PDF format.  It doesn’t get any easier than that for a last minute assessment.  Some of the resources are for the pediatric population so it is definitely […]

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Handwriting Size and Children with Autism

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders published a study of  26 boys with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 17 typically developing children and their ability to regulate the size and consistency of fundamental handwriting movements when using writing guides.    Each participant wrote a series of four cursive letter l’s using 10 mm and 40 mm writing […]