Motor Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

Though not considered a core diagnostic criterion, most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present with motor impairments that persist into adolescence. In addition, compared to same-age peers, children with ASD participate less in physical, leisure, and recreation activities. The World Health Organization considers participation to be critical to quality of life. This scoping review presents the types of interventions used to address gross motor impairments, and the standardized outcome measures within the domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), used to evaluate the impact of the interventions. Results produced 17 articles and five types of motor interventions, including land-based exercise, motor physical activity interventions; sports-based, active recreation; movement-based mind-body interventions; equine or therapeutic horseback riding, and active video games/virtual and augmented reality. The interventions were provided by either a single discipline or an interprofessional team, with physical and recreational therapy being underrepresented as team members. Most studies used outcome measures in the body functions and structures, and activities domains of the ICF and few in the participation domain. The results of this study will be important to professionals for planning, implementing, and monitoring interventions for children with ASD.