Autism Awareness Sneak Peak

EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND
THE AUTISM SPECTRUM
Move 4 Health – www.move4health.com.au

What is Autism?
Autism has a wide range of characteristics and
traits. Every individual with autism presents with
varied characteristics and traits
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What is Autism? (cont.)
Difficulty relating to others
Excellent rote memory
Delayed echolalia
Failure to assume an anticipatory
posture
Limitation in the variety of
spontaneous activity (play)
Stereotyped body movements
Abnormalities of posture
Fascination with movementposture
Literalness
An all-powerful need for being left
undisturbed
Noises and motions that are
monotonously repetitious
Fascination with movement
Odd responses to stimuli
Often accompanied by additional
learning difficulties (about 75%).

What is Asperger’s syndrome?
Hans Asperger first described Asperger’s syndrome in 1944
as “information is processed in the abstract and logical ways
of the intellect, rather than instinctively and concretely.
Communication is intellect-driven, in language, rather than
through the direct instinctive channels that bypass thethrough the direct instinctive channels that bypass the
intellect as in intonation, facial expression, or "body
language".

MAKING SENSE OF OUR SENSES

Types of Senses
Sight,
Smell,
Touch,
Taste,
Vestibular,
Sound, and
Proprioception

How do we sense?
In order to experience these sensations we require
sensory receptors to deliver information (stimuli)
from our outside world to our brain, so that we can
feel and interpret this information
Sensory receptors are specialised to respond to
changes in their environment (stimuli).
Each specific type of sensory receptors only
responds to a particular type of stimuli

How do we sense? (cont.)
As the message
arrives at the brain,
regions of the
Somatosensory
Somatosensory
Cortex are specific
to the type of
stimulus (sight,
sound, etc.)

The size of the regions
of the Somatosensory
Cortex reflect the
number of sensory
receptors located in
the associated body
the associated body
area.
This homunculus shows
the most sensitive
regions of the
Somatosensory Cortex

Key Content
Every adult and child is different and unique in their own way.
The ordinary sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of everyday
that you and I may not even notice can be painful and extremely
uncomfortable for a child with Autism

Sight
Sight is the most dominant sensory system
Sight refers to receiving and interpreting sensory input from
our eyes in regards to moving and static objects, people, our
environment, our body position, body language, etc.

Taste
Taste refers to receiving and interpreting sensory
input from our mouth in regards to the taste of
foods, objects, and drinks

Smell
Smell refers to receiving and interpreting sensory
input from our nose in regards to the smell of foods,
objects, drinks, our environment, people, danger

Touch
Touch refers to receiving and interpreting sensory
input from our body when in contact with an object,
person, food, environmental factor (wind, rain), etc.

Sound
Sound refers to
receiving and
interpreting sensory
input from our ears
when we hear thewhen we hear the
sound of an object,
person’s voice, food,
environmental factor
(wind, rain), etc.

Vestibular (balance and motion)
Vestibular refers to receiving and interpreting
sensory input from our ears in regards to the
position of our head in relation to space

Proprioception (body awareness)
Proprioception involves collecting, interpreting, and
organising crucial information about:
our movement,
the force of gravity,
our body position and posture, and
the amount of force through our muscles and joints

Senses & Autism
Autism is largely characterised with sensory
dysfunction. Which means that the individual’s
processing of their sensory world is often
misinterpreted, confused, disoriented, etc.
An individual often experiences one of two sensory
difficulties – hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?

Sensory Integration
Our survival depends not only on sensation (awareness of
changes in internal and external environments) but also on
perception (conscious interpretation of those stimuli).
As sensory information is collected by sensory receptors and a
message delivered to our brain, we must use cognitivemessage delivered to our brain, we must use cognitive
processing to interpret and organise this sensory information
(perception) to plan an appropriate response to the sensation.
This process from sensation to action is referred to as Sensory
Integration.

Sensory Integration Poster

From the list of behaviours determine which
sense is primarily effected
Your clothes feel like they are made of sand paper
One piece of orange paper in a selection of brown paper makes a child
anxious
The fluorescent light in this room is flickering and is too bright and it makes
them feel uneasy
The smell of lavender makes them nauseas like seafood for a pregnantThe smell of lavender makes them nauseas like seafood for a pregnant
woman
The sound of a humming refrigerator makes them agitated, dozens of
people talking at once makes them want to hide in silence
The feeling of sitting in a chair makes them want to stand up and jump
around
The sound of people talking in a crowd makes me want to hide under a
blanket so the sound is buffered

Sensory Profile
Each child is unique and individual
Sensory profiles are assessed and used by health
professionals to understand an individual’s sensory
dysfunction/awareness and associateddysfunction/awareness and associated
behaviours/challenges

Autism in the Classroom
Having autism doesn’t mean beingHaving autism doesn’t mean being
unable to learn. But it does mean
there are differences in how learning
happens.
Classroom strategies include: routines,
schedules, individual work systems,
visual structure, and physical
organisation of materials.

Understand the Behaviour
“Bad” behaviour often occurs because the individual is
anticipating the onset of a hurtful stimuli
There may be a lack of fear in response to real dangers
such as walking into the middle of traffic, and excessive
fearfulness to harmless objects such as teddy bears.fearfulness to harmless objects such as teddy bears.
We need to always complete a sensory assessment in order
to understand their behaviour and to then implement
appropriate and effective strategies.

Self-stimulating/Self-injurious
behaviour
Self-stimulating behaviours (repetitive body movements
that are unconventional in our environment) are often
used with individuals with sensory integration
dysfunction to help them to regulate sensory information
as they have difficulty receiving and interpreting
sensory information.
as they have difficulty receiving and interpreting
sensory information.
Self-harming behaviours are often needed for
recharging the batteries. While we would like to reduce
self-harming behaviours, we need to consider teaching
appropriate alternative behaviours with the least possible
harm to their self-esteem and sensory needs

Sensory Integration Therapy
Sensory therapy uses planned, controlled sensory
input (somatosensory, vestibular, proprioception,
etc.) in accordance with the child’s neurological
needs which usually elicit a spontaneous adaptive
response that integrates the senses. The purpose isresponse that integrates the senses. The purpose is
to create a state of arousal, attention, and
sensitivity to environmental stimuli that is optimal for
learning (Ayres, 1972)

Exercise/Sensory Program Design
Each exercise/sensory activity that is prescribed to
an individual needs to be specific to the strengths,
weaknesses, goals, and interests of that individual
There are a wide range of exercises and sensoryThere are a wide range of exercises and sensory
activities. We have selected a few in the following
slides for you.

Exercises to improve motor control
Fine motor skills
Grasp/release
TargetingTargeting
Integrate relaxation
Obstacle courses
Tummy time

Exercises to improve communication
Rhythm is important for language development.
Sing songs,
Play music,
Imitate body movementsImitate body movements
Imitate the use of the mouth muscles
Blow bubbles with varied straws
Blow ping pong balls across the table with a straw

Exercises to improve sensory
integration
Sensory integration
difficulties are
common
A thorough sensory
assessment is crucialassessment is crucial
Sensory integration
programs are
designed for
Sensory Avoidance
Sensory Seeking

Remember…
Information in this training package contains only
suggested guidelines.
Each person with autism must be considered and
assessed individually before commencing anassessed individually before commencing an
exercise/sensory program.

To view the full 74 page presentation
please contact
admin@move4health.com.au
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Autism Awareness Sneak Peak

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