Claudia Hilton, University of Texas Medical Branch – Exergames

Can an exergame help autistic children get active?

Dr. Claudia Hilton, associate professor in the occupation therapy department at UTMB, describes what an exergame is and how it’s helping these children get up and move.

Dr. Claudia Hilton is an associate professor in the Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Through her career, she has had extensive experience as an occupational therapist, as a faculty member and as a researcher.  Her research examines issues that limit activity participation by children with autism spectrum disorders. Participation in activities is how children develop an understanding of the expectations of society and gain the physical and social skills needed to function and flourish. It plays an important role in a child’s social development and influences his or her long-term mental and physical health. Upon reaching adulthood, an alarmingly low percentage of individuals with autism, even with average or nearly average intelligence, are employed, get married, or achieve enough independence to live alone. The expected outcome of Dr. Hilton’s research is to better prepare individuals who have autism to become productive adults living meaningful and satisfying lives.

Exergames

Children with autism spectrum disorders often have difficulty with executive function and motor skills.

Executive function is the higher level of intelligence that helps us plan and organize. We also use it when problem solving or suppressing inappropriate behaviors. It is very important for being able to live independently as an adult.

Motor skills involve body movement, including strength and coordination. Overall, children with autism are not as coordinated and experience lower rates of physical activity than do typically developing children. As they get older, their physical activity declines and they deal with obesity problems.

My research team recently conducted a study that investigated the use of an exergame called the Makoto arena with 17 children and adolescents with autism between the ages of 8 and 18. An exergame is a game that involves physical exertion, like a Wii system or Dance, Dance Revolution. The Makoto arena is a triangular shaped arena with 6-foot towers at each point that randomly light up and make sounds at different heights. When in the arena, participants must hit the lights at a certain speed.

We conducted a series of 2-minute-long Makoto sessions over a 4-week period. Once participants mastered a speed level, we would increase the speed of the game to the next higher level. After 30 sessions, the study participants showed significant improvements in response speed, executive function and motor skills.

It is difficult to get children with autism to participate in physically exerting activities, so finding a game that they will actually do over an extended period of time like this is very exciting. The findings suggest that using this type of exergame can be a valuable addition to therapies for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Read More:
Link to study on exergaming