The Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Motor Skills and Body Composition of Children with Autism

Aerobic exercise is recommended to autistic children suffering from sensory and motor disorders. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on motor skills and body composition of autistic children in Tabriz city. In this study, 40 out of 83 autistic patients diagnosed by a psychiatrist were randomly selected and assigned to experiment and control groups. The evaluation tools included the Brininx-Oresetsky Expedition Test and the Physical Fitness Machine and Intervention Tool for Aerobic Exercise. The experiment group received 12 sessions of 90 minutes of aerobic exercise, while no exercise was provided for the control group. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21 by descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, and inferential test for multivariate covariance analysis. The results of the analyzed data showed a significant difference in the post-test scores between the experiment and control groups (p<0.01). Aerobic exercise improved the level of fine and elegant motor skills, and body composition as well as their components in children with autism. Based on the obtained results, aerobic exercise can be used as a useful and non-pharmacological action to improve the motor skills and the physical composition of children with autism.