Indoor Motor Exercise Regimens Improve Social Cognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities. This systematic review is conducted to analyse the effects of motor exercises on the improvement of social cognition among autistic children aged between 4 to 12 years old. PRISMA guidelines and NHLBI, NIH critical appraisal tool were utilised in this review. The search for studies were made in PubMed, Ebsco Host as well as Google scholar and finally 11 articles were included in the systematic review. This study demonstrated that impact of physical activity intervention (table tennis) has the highest efficacy in improving social cognition among autistic children. According to other studies throwing ball with two hands, standing on one leg, jumping zigzag, and balancing also has some significant effect in improving social cognition among ASD kids. Studies shows that rock climbing, trampoline jumping and gymnasium exercise has less effect on improvement of social skills. According to the study, video games mostly increase attention by requiring players to engage in face to face interactions. This systematic review concluded that indoor exercises have positive impacts on autistic children to improve social cognition by either biological or non-biological ways.