TY - JOUR
T1 - Do we need norms of fitness for children with autistic spectrum condition?
AU - Place, Maurice
AU - Dickinson, Kathleen
AU - Reynolds, Joanna
PY - 2015/6
Y1 - 2015/6
N2 - The increasingly sedentary habits of children, and rising obesity levels, are prompting concern for children's future health. Children with autistic spectrum condition (ASC) show a clear trend in this regard. Within school, an understanding of how an individual's fitness compares to age norms is important in order to design appropriate exercise programmes. This study, by Maurice Place, Kathleen Dickinson and Joanna Reynolds, all based at Northumbria University, assessed 100 children with ASC and learning difficulty, and found a wide variation in fitness levels as measured by the Eurofit tests. In addition the measure of cardio-pulmonary fitness (VO2 max) was generally poor. In boys, body mass index (BMI) showed only a modest correlation with this measure of cardio-pulmonary fitness, with the results for the girls not being significant. Using a variant of the established BMI calculation did not improve the correlation. To our knowledge this article offers the first set of published Eurofit test results for children with ASC and highlights the generally poor level of cardio-pulmonary fitness in this group of children.
AB - The increasingly sedentary habits of children, and rising obesity levels, are prompting concern for children's future health. Children with autistic spectrum condition (ASC) show a clear trend in this regard. Within school, an understanding of how an individual's fitness compares to age norms is important in order to design appropriate exercise programmes. This study, by Maurice Place, Kathleen Dickinson and Joanna Reynolds, all based at Northumbria University, assessed 100 children with ASC and learning difficulty, and found a wide variation in fitness levels as measured by the Eurofit tests. In addition the measure of cardio-pulmonary fitness (VO2 max) was generally poor. In boys, body mass index (BMI) showed only a modest correlation with this measure of cardio-pulmonary fitness, with the results for the girls not being significant. Using a variant of the established BMI calculation did not improve the correlation. To our knowledge this article offers the first set of published Eurofit test results for children with ASC and highlights the generally poor level of cardio-pulmonary fitness in this group of children.
KW - fitness
KW - autism
KW - cardio-pulmonary fitness
KW - autistic spectrum disorder
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8578.12074
DO - 10.1111/1467-8578.12074
M3 - Article
VL - 42
SP - 199
EP - 216
JO - British Journal of Special Education
JF - British Journal of Special Education
SN - 0952-3383
IS - 2
ER -