Motor difficulties can have a significant impact on your child’s social development and self-esteem. Our paediatric physios make sure our sessions are fun.
Motor challenges for Autistic children
Receiving an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis can be overwhelming, and it can be difficult to know what is best for your child. Physiotherapy for autism often isn’t considered, yet motor development is frequently impacted. This can result in difficulty with gross motor skills such as walking, jumping and running; and fine motor skills like writing and buttoning a shirt. PE and sporting activities can be more challenging due to reduced coordination and balance, or low muscle tone.
Support with the fundamental movement skills needed for play and life
Having challenges with gross motor skills and coordination can prevent engagement in physical education and sports and ultimately Autistic children are likely to become less physically active than their peers. There is nothing we love more than seeing a kid smile and have fun catching a ball. Balls can be pretty intimidating in the school yard, especially as they get bigger and heavier.
We put people first
Autistic is often the term preferred by Autistic people over ASD. We try very hard to be neuro-affirming and gender-affirming in our approach. The different terms don’t change the technical meaning, but to Autistic people we know the difference is significant. We hope you will excuse us mentioning the term Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) so that we can also help those who search with those terms. We will continue using the terms Autism and Autistic and to respect personal identity preferences.
We love helping children grow their confidence in their bodies and improve self-esteem.
Benefits of physiotherapy for autistic children
- growing self-confidence and improving self esteem
- developing fundamental movement skills, such as running, jumping, skipping, throwing, catching and kicking
- improved social engagement in sports and general play
- improved physical development and strength.
Gross motor activities for autism
- Specific exercises targeted at improving a child’s body awareness and their individual challenges
- Fun Paediatric gym equipment; Blaze Pods are a favourite – chasing electrically activated colours! These can be used to develop many physical skills and to assist with motor planning and attention.
A collaborative approach
- Often a collaborative approach with various professionals is helpful, including speech therapists, occupational therapists and psychologists.
- OTs tend to focus more on fine motor skills and physios on gross motor skills, but there is a lot of overlap.
- Alongside OT, Physiotherapy is the main intervention that can help autistic children with physical skills.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD is another common neurodevelopmental condition presenting in childhood. As well as challenges maintaining attention, children with ADHD can have difficulty controlling their body. Every child is unique in the way that they move and any challenges they have with movement, gross and fine motor skills. ADHD can influence movement control as a direct result of inattention – if you don’t know where the ball is and when it is likely to come to you, it’s hard to catch it!
Some children with ADHD also have an Autism or ASD diagnosis, and/or movement and coordination issues including Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).
We love helping children grow their self-confidence and improve self-esteem. Our paediatric physios prefer working with kids, because the work is more fun!
Posted 30 June 2024