Effects of Yoga Intervention on Participation in a Regular Classroom Setting for a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Introduction: School age children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at higher risk of demonstrating disruptive behaviors than typically developing children. Disruptive behaviors impact the ability to participate with peers in a regular education classroom setting. The purpose of this study is to determine if a yoga intervention is a beneficial modality to assist with participation in the regular school environment by decreasing disruptive behavior and increasing classroom minutes for a student with ASD. Materials and Methods: This case study is a single subject ABA design (no intervention, intervention, no intervention) using an individually designed yoga intervention with extra visual cueing and physical prompting 3 times per week for 15 minute sessions for one calendar month in a regular school environment. The participant is a 9-year-old, male, elementary school student with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The student has varied and limited participation in the regular school environment because of disruptive behaviors and his educational programming is directly affected by this. Two outcome measures were used: 1. Percentage of time in the regular education classroom and 2. Frequency of disruptive behavior. The school staff records all disruptive behavior episodes on a paper log. Results and Discussion: There was a statistically significant change in the % of time in the classroom immediately post-intervention and there was evidence of a trend of decreasing disruptive behavior, although not statistically significant. Conclusion: Yoga as an intervention offers promise to increase time spent in a regular classroom in a school aged student with ASD although the mechanism of this effect is unknown. Future random controlled trials using a double blinded approach would yield important information.