Gym Class and Autism

“I had a hard time.”

I would hear the sentence.  See the little face all contorted.

Know that was all he was going to be able to tell me.

And then the light bulb goes off.  “Oh, he had Gym class at school…”

If you knew Declan when he was younger you would notice one thing.

HE NEVER STOPPED MOVING.

He bounced, he jumped, he ran.  He tumbled into things.  He CLIMBED.  Declan never sat for anything.  Not to eat, not to bathe.  And no, he never sat to watch TV or a device.  If I thought I could get him to watch something, I would put the trampoline in front of the TV.

Remember this one?

I can’t tell you how many times I came into the kitchen to find Declan on top of the refrigerator.  That was back when I thought I could hide candy in this house.  I thought he was agile and strong – he could pull himself up there!

Declan was ACTIVE.  So very ACTIVE.  I had always thought – When he gets older, he will be great at football – he loves to run into things and it doesn’t hurt him.  Or hockey!   And when he gets to school he is going to LOVE Gym class.  All that movement!

Declan does not do well with organized sports.  Games with rules.

And Declan HATES Gym class.

In Gym, they play games where there are winners and there are losers.  There are activities that require motor skills.  There are directions to have to process, learn and then complete.

These are all things that Declan has trouble with and gets upset.  Then he has a “hard time.”

Recently I wrote about weight concerns for children with autism.  A lot of that has to do with picky eating, which I wrote about here as well.

Which lends to the next idea – Not only do I want my child to eat well, I want him involved in some physical activity to help keep a healthy weight.  I can do things with Declan here at home, but soon he will be going to school.  Is there a way Declan can learn to enjoy going to Gym?  Can Gym class adapt to the special needs of some students?

Of course.

In this article, “The Challenge of Physical Fitness for People with Autism” I found:

It’s not uncommon for Brian Wagner (PE teacher at a nonpublic school for students with developmental disabilities) to hear that a new student “hates” P.E. class, he said. At a previous school, that student may have struggled to learn skills or understand the rules of a game, while his classmates became impatient.

In his class, Mr. Wagner routinely breaks down complex motor skills into small tasks and teaches them step-by-step. He also adjusts the rules of a game as necessary to accommodate students who struggle with remembering them.

In this article, “Why You Need to Support Your ASD in Child in Physical Education” I found a lot of great suggestions for parents to help their children who struggle with Gym, just like me.  The ideas that I think would really help me, help Declan include:

• Help make movement fun but play low stakes games and activities that build skills.
• Focus on games that require cooperation rather than competition.
• Integrate a child’s interest into play for added motivation such as chasing dinosaurs, or jumping off equipment as if into a lake to encourage pretend
• Communicate with your PE or APE teacher to find out what activities are being taught ahead of time and help pre-teach those skills to your child.
• Observe your child’s school playground to see what games and activities children are playing. You can then teach these games or ask about the school supporting the learning of these games through APE or support on the playground.
• Advocate for your child, but also teach your child to advocate for themselves—help him/her communicate needs so he/she can actively engage with peers in the PE setting.

Physical activity is important to help keep a healthy weight.  Knowing that children with autism have a higher risk for gaining weight (and recently watching Declan gain weight) I was thinking of the different ways to help him with physical activity.  I don’t want him to hate movement or exercise – or Gym class.

Thankfully, I know Declan is going into a school that is very supportive of his needs.  I have some ideas on how to support him and help him here, and I am sure I can reach out to his school with some of these ideas as well!