What do you expect from your autism and neurodivergent athletes when they walk (run, or skip🏃♂️) into their session?
Does the expectation for each exercise remain constant?
Does your athlete know where they need to be and how to communicate their needs?
What is the expectations from parents and family members about when to expect progress?
Goal setting and expectation management are two major factors in successful fitness and adapted PE programs for the autism and neurodivergent child, teen, or adult. They rely on assessing current PAC skills, effective communication, and ongoing evaluation before, during, and after each session.
If working with multiple individuals, is the expectation for each the same?
If not (and likely not), how do you decide what takes priority?🧐
Expectation is a multi-lane street. There’s the expectation of the coach or professional for the athlete, the athlete for the coach/professional, and expectations around the family, athlete, and coach. It’s…a lot.
But approached correctly it can all be manageable and lead towards success. So much of this relies on the language we use and the consistency of communication. Theory of mind becomes a big factor; YOU know what you want to see, but does the athlete hold the same expectation/understanding?
1) Prioritize. What are the 1-2 most important exercises, communications, and behavioral considerations/goals for the athlete? Which one needs the most attention in the moment?
In the initial stages of a program (the introductory phase), we assess physical, adaptive, and cognitive skills (the Autism Fitness PAC Profile) as they relate to physical abilities in the fitness environment. Once we have a good working knowledge of the individual’s baseline skills, we can program for each area of skill (P/A/C) accordingly.
Of course you may have an athlete who is highly motivated, coachable, and can independently perform most (or all) of the foundational exercises in the program. Given that the autism and neurodivergent population is a wide spectrum of capabilities, it is difficult, if not impossible, to provide a single approach. We have to take into account not only the diagnosis, but the fact that each individual will have their own personality, likes, dislikes, and quirks.
If there is an almost-all encapsulating mantra for prioritization, it would be “Getting the highest quality exercise completed with the most possible motivation of the athlete”.” Again, this is subject to high variability.
2) Communicate the expectation. Whether it is the number of sets, reps, or positive feedback on performance, having a way to clearly-as-possible convey the relevant information to your athlete(s) is essential.
Fitness, particularly fitness for the autism population, and particularly effective fitness programs, require a lot of consideration. One of the biggest factors of success is having a “coaching filter;” not over-explaining or overcomplicating the instructions. Visual representations of the exercises can also be incorporated as can check-off lists once each set is completed.
3) Educate and Understand. A squat may be a big deal for us as a coach/professional (I’m all about it and I would totally rename my company Eccentric Control ), but how do we meaningfully convey the reasoning behind our programming to parents, families, other professionals, and our athletes? What are their goals in this arena? Keep an open dialogue!
Want to bring health and wellness into the lives of the autism and neurodivergent individuals you serve (or house🏠)? Get Autism Fitness Certified anywhere in the world!