Using Progressive Muscle Relaxation to Increase Academic Engagement for Elementary School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly struggle with self-regulation skills, which can lead to less social inclusion, difficulties with peer and teacher interactions, low academic performance and high levels of challenging behaviors. Alternatively, when students are equipped with strong self-regulatory capabilities, their social development and academic performance is enhanced, leading to improved well-being, increased attention in the classroom, and lower levels of challenging behaviors. Research suggests that the use of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) may show promising results in improving observable behaviors such as academic engagement and challenging behaviors in the classroom. However, much of the current literature focuses on the positive effects of PMR solely when targeting private events, such as anxiety, executive functioning, and autonomic arousal. The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary examination to explore the effects of brief video-based PMR to increase academic engagement in the classroom with three elementary school students diagnosed with ASD. Using visual and statistical analyses, the results from this study showed that PMR showed promising increases in academic engagement across all three participants. Social validity ratings indicated that the teacher and participants were satisfied with the intervention and rated PMR as a feasible and acceptable behavior-management strategy in the classroom. While social validity outcomes were positive, they were limited as they consisted of short Likert-type scale questions completed by one single teacher and three students. Given the small sample size of this exploratory study, future studies should incorporate additional participants and evaluate the long-term impacts of PMR for improving engagement and academic outcomes for students with ASD.