Taekwondo for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Taekwondo for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Impact on Social Interaction Skills in Everyday Life

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03912896
• Other study ID #: 5180418
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 11, 2019
• Est. completion date: February 10, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: March 2020
• Source: Loma Linda University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study uses a mixed methods design to understand the effectiveness of using taekwondo as an intervention for children with ASD and its effect on social interaction skills and everyday life. Qualitative research emphasizes that meaning can be explained and interpreted only by those who experience it. A pretest-posttest design will be used to describe what occurs after the introduction of the taekwondo intervention and understand the changes that occur after exposure. Collecting information through the lived experiences and observations from the parents will be collated with the pre and post results of the children participants' social interaction skills.

Qualitative data will be collected through pre and post semi-structured interviews with the parents to understand their observations of their child before and after completing the taekwondo program. Interviews will also be conducted with the child to understand their perspectives on physical activity participation. Interview questions will also explore how the effectiveness of the program has impacted the children's engagement in daily activities.

Quantitative research will be collected through pre and post results from the Autism Social Skills Profile-2 ([ASSP] assessment that will be completed by the parents. The ASSP-2 provides a comprehensive measure of social functioning for children and adolescents with ASD.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 6
• Est. completion date: February 10, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: November 20, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 7 Years to 11 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

• Able to follow and understand English verbal instructions during the screening process.

• No experience or prior experience with martial arts.

• Able to walk and move without using adaptive equipment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Physical disabilities that would prevent participation in taekwondo (e.g. wheelchair bound)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autistic Disorder
• Child Development Disorders, Pervasive
• Disease

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Taekwondo
Children will participate in a 7-week taekwondo program.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Loma LInda University Health	Loma Linda	California

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Loma Linda University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Subject response to taekwondo	Autism Social Skills Profile-2 (ASSP-2) will be administered at baseline prior to taekwondo instruction and then administered again at week 7. The ASSP-2 has 49 items and each are rated on a 4-point Likert scale with a minimum score of 1 representing never and a maximum score 4 representing very often for each item. This is a composite measurement. The scale ranges from a total raw score of 49 to a maximum of 196. There are three subscales: 20 social/emotional reciprocity (SER) items, 11 structured play activity (SPA) items, and 11 detrimental social behaviors (DSB) items. One component skill is measured as both an SER and SPA subscale. Standard scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. The higher the scores for each section means that the child does not have difficulties with social skills for that subscale. The lower the scores shows a deficit in each area.	Change between baseline and week 7.