A Preliminary Investigation of Long-Term Maintenance of a Parent-Implemented Physical Activity Intervention for Adolescents Diagnosed with ASD
Parents can run a goal-plus-reward step program that keeps teens with ASD active almost a year later.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two families with teens on the spectrum joined a home program.
Parents learned to set step goals, give feedback, hand out small rewards, and have their teen log steps.
The team checked step counts and kept tweaking the plan for up to eleven months.
What they found
Both teens hit 14,000 steps a day and stayed near that mark six to eleven months later.
Parents kept using the plan with almost no coach help after the first weeks.
How this fits with other research
Goldman et al. (2021) showed that even short activity breaks cut stereotypy in kids. Chin’s work pushes that idea further—parents can run the show for months, not minutes.
Wang et al. (2023) pooled sixteen studies and found the best gains when programs lasted twelve or more weeks. Chin’s eleven-month follow-up fits that rule and proves the effect can last.
Ku et al. (2020) warned that parents simply being active themselves does not boost child activity. Chin’s study agrees: success came from parents setting goals and rewarding steps, not from parents jogging alongside.
Why it matters
You can hand families a simple packet—goals, praise, stickers, phone log—and watch teen step counts climb. No clinic space, no extra staff, and the habit sticks through the next school year. Try it next time an adolescent client needs a fitness goal.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Many adolescents, particularly those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), fail to get ≥ 60 min/day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA), in line with the World Health Organization’s guidelines. Whole-day interventions (i.e., interventions implemented throughout the day) can increase physical activity (PA) levels throughout the day to meet these guidelines. However, there are no known behavior-analytic studies examining the effectiveness of whole-day interventions for increasing PA levels in adolescents diagnosed with ASD in both the short- and long-term. Two adolescent boys diagnosed with ASD and their mother tested the effectiveness of a parent-implemented multicomponent intervention package comprising progressive goal setting, feedback, reinforcement, and self-monitoring to increase whole-day step count. The participants increased their daily step counts to 14,000 steps (which translates to ≥ 60 min/day of MVPA) by the conclusion of the intervention, thus meeting or exceeding PA guidelines. The family then adjusted the procedure to better meet their lifestyle needs, resulting in long-term maintenance of PA above baseline levels at 6- and 11-months post-intervention for one participant, and 11-months post-intervention for the other participant. This study therefore shows the importance of tracking long-term changes in outcomes and understanding factors influencing the sustainability of these outcomes. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-024-00970-w.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-024-00970-w