Design of Structured Soccer Game Training for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition and has become an important public health concern worldwide. This study investigated the effects of a 12-week structured soccer game-based creation program on multiple developmental domains in children with ASD. Twelve children with ASD were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 6) receiving the soccer-based game intervention or a control group (n = 6) receiving regular physical education. This study investigated the preliminary effects of a 12-week structured soccer-based game intervention on autism-related behavioral symptoms in children with ASD. Outcomes were assessed using the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) pre- and post-intervention. The experimental group showed significant reductions (indicating improvement) in sensory (p = 0.028, padjust = 0.196), relating (p < 0.01), body and object use (p < 0.001), and total ABC scores (p < 0.001), alongside a significant reduction in stereotyped behaviors (p = 0.027, padjust = 0.189). No significant Group × Time interactions were observed for language or social and self-help domains. The findings provide preliminary evidence that the structured soccer-based game intervention may reduce sensory-related, relating, body-and-object-use, and stereotyped behavior symptoms in children with ASD. After multiple comparison adjustment, no statistically significant differences were observed on the sensory and stereotyped behavior subscales. Accordingly, these findings should be interpreted as exploratory. Given the small sample size, these results should be regarded as preliminary and require further confirmation in larger-scale randomized controlled trials.