Effects of Creative Movement Therapies on Social Communication, Behavioral-Affective, Sensorimotor, Cognitive, and Functional Participation Skills of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting multiple developmental domains including social communication, behavioral-affective, sensorimotor, and cognitive systems. There is growing evidence for the use of holistic, whole-body, Creative Movement Therapies (CMT) such as music, dance, yoga, theater, and martial arts in addressing the multisystem impairments in ASD. We conducted a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative review of the evidence to date on the effects of CMT on multiple systems in individuals with ASD. The strongest evidence, both in terms of quantity and quality, exists for music and martial arts-based interventions followed by yoga and theater, with very limited research on dance-based approaches. Our review of 72 studies (N = 1,939 participants) across participants with ASD ranging from 3 to 65 years of age suggests that at present there is consistent evidence from high quality studies for small-to-large sized improvements in social communication skills following music and martial arts therapies and medium-to-large improvements in motor and cognitive skills following yoga and martial arts training, with insufficient evidence to date for gains in affective, sensory, and functional participation domains following CMT. Although promising, our review serves as a call for more rigorous high-quality research to assess the multisystem effects of CMT in ASD. Based on the existing literature, we discuss implications of our findings for autism researchers and also provide evidence-based guidelines for clinicians to incorporate CMT approaches in their plan of care for individuals with ASD.

A further study of relations between motor impairment and social communication, cognitive, language, functional impairments, and repetitive behavior severity in children with ASD using the SPARK study dataset

“…Research conducted in the first author's lab has evaluated effects of various creative movement (music and movement, and yoga) and physical activity interventions that were truly multisystem in nature due to key ingredients such as gross‐motor coordination/balance training, interpersonal synchrony/turn‐taking, as well as social interactions including, listening, singing/conversations, and leading/following (Kaur & Bhat, 2019; Kaur, Eigsti, & Bhat, 2021; Srinivasan, Eigsti, Gifford, & Bhat, 2016; Srinivasan, Eigsti, Neelly, & Bhat, 2016; Srinivasan, Kaur, et al, 2015; Srinivasan, Park, et al, 2015). Our recent systematic review found strong evidence for the positive effects of music and movement on the social communication, cognitive‐behavioral, and perceptuo‐motor skills of children with ASD (Amonkar et al, 2021). Such interventions may also facilitate changes in functional activation and connectivity to normalize brain functioning in ASD using recently identified neurobiomarkers (Su et al, 2020a, 2020b, 2021; Sharda et al, 2018).…”

A case study on the effect of light and colors in the built environment on autistic children’s behavior

“…A significant instance of pervasive development being witnessed throughout the globe is the complex neurodevelopment condition called autism spectrum disorder (ASD) which impacts behavior, communication, and social interaction (1)(2)(3)(4). The scientific community has conducted several research studies in recent years to assess the incidence and prevalence of ASD (5)(6)(7).…”

Multidimensional motor performance in children with autism mostly remains stable with age and predicts social communication delay, language delay, functional delay, and repetitive behavior severity after accounting for intellectual disability or cognitive delay: A SPARK dataset analysis

“…There is early evidence for the use of creative and general movement interventions based on engaging physical activity ideas using elements of gross‐motor coordination/balance training, whole‐body coordination games, interpersonal synchrony/turn‐taking, as well as social interactions including, listening, singing/conversations, and leading/following that can lead to multisystem, positive effects (Bhat et al, 2021; Cleffi et al, 2022; Kaur et al, 2021; Kaur & Bhat, 2019; Ketcheson et al, 2017; Srinivasan et al, 2021; Srinivasan & Bhat, 2013; Srinivasan, Eigsti, Gifford, & Bhat, 2016; Srinivasan, Eigsti, Neelly, & Bhat, 2016; Srinivasan, Kaur, et al, 2015; Srinivasan, Park, et al, 2015). A recent systematic review found medium to large positive effects of creative movement (music and movement, yoga, and martial arts) on the social communication, cognitive‐behavioral, and perceptuo‐motor skills of children with ASD (Amonkar et al, 2021).…”