Social Referencing and Children with Autism.
Eight weeks of quick creative yoga gives small but real boosts to joint attention and social talk for elementary students with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kids with autism did eight weeks of creative yoga. Each session had breathing, poses, and quiet time.
Researchers compared them to kids who played academic games instead. They tracked joint attention and social talk.
What they found
The yoga group made small gains in joint attention and spontaneous social words. Mood stayed the same.
Gains were modest but better than the play group.
How this fits with other research
Wang et al. (2023) pooled 16 studies and found bigger social boosts when programs last 12-plus weeks. A et al. ran only eight, which may explain the smaller lift.
Zhou et al. (2025) used 12-week music therapy and saw medium social gains. Both studies show arts-based movement helps, but longer schedules help more.
Hansen et al. (2018) got large joint-attention jumps with caregiver-led play. Their kids were younger and parents ran daily 10-min sessions, showing dose and home practice matter.
Why it matters
You can slip brief yoga breaks into group sessions right away. Keep them short, fun, and regular. If you want bigger change, plan more weeks or add home practice. Track joint attention before and after to see if the extra dose works for your learner.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Yoga is gaining popularity as a multisystem intervention due to its impact on both the physical and mental well-being of children with typical development. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support the use of this approach in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current pilot study evaluated the impact of a creative yoga intervention on the joint attention, social communication, and affective states of children with ASD. METHODS: 24 school-aged children with ASD received eight weeks of yoga (e.g., breathing, poses, relaxation) or tabletop play/academic intervention (e.g., reading, arts-crafts, building activities). Children were tested before and after the intervention using a standardized measure of responsive joint attention. Additionally, changes in socially directed verbal communication and affective states of children were assessed three times during the intervention period, i.e. during early, mid, and late intervention sessions. RESULTS: Children with ASD showed improvements in responsive joint attention in both groups in the posttest vs. the pretest. Furthermore, children in the yoga group showed improvements in socially directed verbal communication skills across the intervention sessions, i.e. greater spontaneous and responsive communication from early/mid to late intervention sessions compared to the academic group. There were no changes in affective states with the intervention, however, the yoga group showed greater interested and less negative affect compared to the academic group. CONCLUSIONS: Creative yoga intervention is a promising tool that led to improvements in intervention-related social communication skills and generalized joint attention skills of children with ASD.
The Behavior analyst, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2011.02.003