Teaching social support to promote inclusive physical activity for people with autism

Abstract

Purpose Previous research found that when exercise partners provided social support to each other, both participants engaged in higher levels of activity (Gellert et al., 2011). These results suggest that there may be benefits to providing inclusive physical activity (PA) programming to individuals with autism; however, little research has explored specific strategies. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of a behavioral intervention consisting of visual social stories and additional intervention components (i.e. prompting, checklists) to teach adolescents/young adults with autism and their workout partners without disabilities to provide social support to one another during partnered PA. Design/methodology/approach A multiple probe across dyads was used to explore the effects of the intervention on social support (i.e. verbal encouragement and feedback). Findings The results indicate the treatment was effective during the intervention phase. When partners and settings changed during generalization, results were maintained in all but one participant. Originality/value Areas for future research and implications for practice to support inclusive PA for autistics are discussed.