Facilitating Physical Activity Participation Among Autistic Children and Youth: A Scoping Review.
Build exercise around the child’s interest, not around their diagnosis.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Michaud et al. (2025) read every paper they could find on what helps autistic kids move more. They pulled out 95 helpers, or facilitators, from 78 studies. The team looked at children and teens, not adults. They did not run a new experiment; they mapped the field.
What they found
The big list shows four layers of help: child strengths, family support, coach tricks, and welcoming places. Top items are simple: follow the child’s special interest, use peer mentors, give choices, and keep noise low. The authors say stop framing autism as a problem list; start with what the kid already likes.
How this fits with other research
Bassette et al. (2023) already proved one path: teach teens to write their own workout cards and they keep exercising alone. That single-case study is a live example of the self-direction theme Mathieu highlights.
Pickard et al. (2019) looked only at group sports and found tiny social gains but zero language gains. Mathieu’s map is wider; it says group sport is just one of many tools, so the weak language result is not a failure—just the wrong yardstick.
Coffey et al. (2021) showed autistic kids are far behind on fitness tests. Mathieu answers that problem with a toolbox: use interests, peers, and quiet gyms so kids want to show up.
Why it matters
You can stop blaming low activity on autism traits. Swap the deficit lens for a strengths lens today. Ask your client what they love, fold that into warm-ups, and invite a peer. One change per session is enough to start.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Ask your client to pick the next warm-up game based on their favorite character and run it for five minutes.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: Autistic children and youth (C&Y) experience low levels of physical activity (PA) participation due to persistent barriers that have traditionally been researched through deficit-based perspectives. A strengths-based approach may constitute a transformative alternative that focuses on abilities instead of deficits. The identification of facilitators plays a key role in the use of this approach. Thus, the purpose of this scoping review was to identify facilitators to PA participation among autistic C&Y, 5-18 years, and then use the identified facilitators to help conceptualize a strengths-based approach to promote, facilitate, and increase PA participation in autistic C&Y. METHODS: The Arksey and O'Malley framework, the PRISMA guidelines, and the socio-ecological model were utilized to conduct this review. Six databases were searched. RESULTS: Forty-three studies were identified and analyzed which led to the uncovering of 95 PA participation facilitators. These facilitators were organized into categories within the six socio-ecological model levels (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, physical, institutional, community, public policy). CONCLUSION: This review provides solid evidence to recommend a shift in research and practice about the PA participation of autistic C&Y from deficit-based perspectives towards strengths-based approaches. We highlighted in this paper how individual strengths can be fostered through the interaction of various facilitators across all levels of the socio-ecological model. Shifting the focus of researchers and PA practitioners from PA barriers to PA strengths may help find and implement solutions to promote new and ongoing PA participation among autistic C&Y as well as empower them to take ownership of their long-term well-being.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.3390/jcm8122044