THE DIFFERENTIAL AND TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF ANTECEDENT EXERCISE ON THE SELF-STIMULATORY BEHAVIOR OF A CHILD WITH AUTISM

The effects of true levels of exercise (walking versus jogging) in sup pressing the self-stimulatory behavior of a five-year-old boy with aut ism were examined. The exercise conditions were applied immediately be fore periods of academic programming. Maladaptive self-stimulatory beh aviors were separately tracked enabling identification of behaviors th at were more susceptible to change (e.g., physical self-stimulation an d ''out of seat'' behavior) versus those that were more resistant (e.g ., visual self-stimulation). Examination of temporal effects indicated a decrease in physical self-stimulation and ''out of seat'' behavior but only for the jogging condition. In addition, sharp reductions in t hese behaviors were observed immediately following the jogging interve ntion and gradually increased but did not return to baseline levels ov er a 40 min period. Implications for further research and clinical int ervention are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.