Effects of Movement and Sedentary Play interventions on executive functioning and their relationships with sensory, repetitive, and negative behaviors of children with ASD – a pilot RCT

This randomized controlled trial aimed to explore the relationships between inhibitory control and behavioral difficulties of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and examined the intervention effects of Movement versus Sedentary Play interventions. Forty school-age children with ASD were enrolled and matched based on age and ability (mean age ± SE = 8.6 ± 0.4) then randomly assigned to Movement or Sedentary Play groups. The Movement intervention involved play-based, whole-body movements, while the Sedentary Play intervention focused on fine motor activities. The Flanker task was used to assess inhibitory control during pretest and posttest, and we coded children’s sensory, repetitive, and negative behaviors during early and late intervention sessions. Non-parametric statistical analyses were used. There were significant correlations between negative behaviors during intervention sessions and inhibitory control during standardized tasks (<i>r</i> = 0.3–0.4; <i>p</i>s &lt; 0.05). Additionally, we observed improvements in inhibitory control (<i>Z</i> = −0.3 to −3.4, <i>p</i>s &lt; 0.01) and reduction in sensory and negative behaviors (<i>Z</i> = −1.7 to −2.1, <i>p</i>s &lt; 0.05) following Movement intervention but not Sedentary Play intervention. These results support using whole-body movement interventions to enhance executive functioning and reduce sensory/repetitive and negative behaviors in children with ASD. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate challenges in behavioral performance and executive functioning (EF), and these were associated with each other.Interventions involving play-based, whole-body movements led to improvements in inhibitory control and reduced sensory/negative behaviors, while traditional sedentary play did not yield such improvements.Clinicians should address EF alongside behavioral challenges and utilize whole-body movements to enhance EF and behavioral performance in children with ASD. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate challenges in behavioral performance and executive functioning (EF), and these were associated with each other. Interventions involving play-based, whole-body movements led to improvements in inhibitory control and reduced sensory/negative behaviors, while traditional sedentary play did not yield such improvements. Clinicians should address EF alongside behavioral challenges and utilize whole-body movements to enhance EF and behavioral performance in children with ASD.