Skip to main content

Martial Arts and the Autism Spectrum


I have been involved in Taekwondo for more than a year now as a father and husband. Two of my boys and my wife are attending the Traditional Taekwondo Academy in Pretoria, South Africa. I watched from the sidelines and saw the changes in them. Changes in their attitude, motor skills, patience and fitness (and much more). You see, we are a family on the autism spectrum, therefore noise, randomness and change is not well received.



But they are growing and doing well, actually, Hanlie (my wife) is doing extremely well. She is putting in extra hours of practicing and at the SA Nationals 2014 she won her division and so far this year she has not lost a competition yet.

I started taking a closer look at Taekwondo, its moves and principles. I also compared that with the 'requirements' of people on the Autism Spectrum and it is a great fit.
Taekwondo allows for one-on-one training, it has repetitive movements or forms, it is taught by example (visual input), and sparring is not required.
Subsequently I searched the internet for studies about Martial Arts and Autism. Most of them notices an improvement when a martial art is practiced.

Evaluating the effects of a structured program for adults with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities
The effects of 14 weeks of Kata techniques training on stereotypic behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were investigated. The study included 30 eligible (diagnosed ASD, school age) children with ages ranging from 5 to 16 years whom they assigned to an exercise (n=15) or a no-exercise control group (n=15). Participants of the exercise group received Kata techniques instruction four times per week for 14 weeks (56 sessions). Stereotypy was assessed at baseline (pre-intervention), week 14 (post-intervention), and at one month follow up in both groups. Results showed that Kata techniques training significantly reduced stereotypy in the exercise group. Following participation in Kata techniques training, stereotypy decreased from baseline levels by a M of 42.54% across participants. Interestingly, after 30 days of no practice, stereotypy in the exercise group remained significantly decreased compared to pre-intervention time. The participants of the control group did not show significant changes in the stereotypy. Teaching martial arts techniques to children with ASD for a long period of time consistently decreased their stereotypic behaviors.
I came to the conclusion that Martial Arts Training is beneficial to people on the Autism Spectrum and I would encourage anyone to start practicing a Martial Art.






Here are some links

the-unique-discipline-of-martial-arts-for-autism
martial-arts-and-the-autism-spectrum
Martial_Arts_Therapy_for_Aspergers
martial-arts-and-the-autism-spectrum
martial-arts-proven-beneficial-for-individuals-with-autism/



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every day you are beaten

I came across this post from Bryan Ward this morning: Every day you are beaten :  Beaten by the leaky sink you keep avoiding. Beaten by the applesauce on the wall you keep not scrubbing off. Beaten by the dent in the drywall you keep putting off fixing. You long to conquer mountains, yet every day you are beaten by molehills. All these little problems… they should be so easily solved. Yet they go on defeating you, day after day, until at last you conclude that you are not a capable man: If you are this easily defeated, “surely” you do not have what it takes to win the bigger fights: to become your fittest self, to create a business empire, to create works of art that will outlast you. Hell, you can’t even fix a leaky sink: might as well f*** off and go watch TV. But you’ve misdiagnosed the problem entirely. … One summer day when I went into the workshop, I saw that the plastic gas cans by the tractor were bulging like balloons. I had left the vents closed, and the heat of
Post a Comment
Read more

Life's values .... or Character

I practice Sonhahm Taekwondo. One of the goals of the ATA is to instill certain life skills in the students, and in so doing build their character. At the beginning of each class or event we recite a declaration or oath. To me, the declarations we make, is also about how we should conduct ourselves as people in everyday life. I have spent a long time in the Defense Force and as a young officer we were taught the skills of Courtesy, Loyalty and Respect. I just wish that we can teach these same skills to the public at large. I am seeing and experiencing the lack of courtesy, loyalty, respect, integrity and self-control that the people have around me. People of a non-profit group being outright rude, children being rude to their parents, senior (in rank but junior in age) people being rude to juniors (in rank but senior in age). What happened to common decency, courtesy, and respect? We do not have self-control, and we do not teach our children self-control and even th
Post a Comment
Read more

The Journey of the Bonsai

At times I place posts from other people, posts that show that Taekwondo is not just about kicking and punching, but Taekwondo is about changing people, about changing lives.  Here is one such post, the life story of Debro van Wyngaard. She wrote this as part of her Black Belt assignment. She is practicing Taekwondo at  TTA Pretoria . Debro is married with two children (a boy of 11 years and a girl of 5 years).  For the past 17 years she has been working as a social worker, working with children in alternative care (specifically children in children’s homes).  She has been doing Taekwondo since 2009 and started to introduce Taekwondo to the children of Jakaranda Children’s home in June 2012.  The Journey of the Bonsai My journey as bonsai started in the wide expanse of rural South Africa, there where time seem to stand still and one's soul is set free. Never in my wildest dreams did I think, that I, a humble fig tree, will be on the threshold of such a big ho
Post a Comment
Read more