Effectiveness of Interventions Involving Physical Activities for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) benefit from physical activity interventions. This study synthesized 14 single-case design (SCD) studies on interventions involving physical activities for individuals with ASD. The study evaluated the methodological quality of the reviewed studies by using What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) design standards and used Tau-U indices to determine the overall magnitudes of intervention effects and the potential variables that moderate improved outcomes for individuals with ASD. The results indicated that three studies met the WWC SCD design standards. Interventions involving physical activities demonstrated an overall moderate-to-large positive effect on behaviors of individuals with ASD. The effect size of sports-related skills was significantly larger than that of exercise. The smallest effect size among dependent variables was engagement and the largest was problem behavior. Interventions implemented by professional practitioners demonstrated a larger effect size than interventions implemented by teachers or teachers with researcher. Questions remain concerning what dosage of physical activity interventions would produce optimum results for individuals with ASD. Further high-quality studies are needed to examine the differences in physical activity intervention outcomes for individuals with ASD according to moderators.