A Study of the Effect of Interactive Physical Activity on Executive Function in Children with Autism

To explore the impact of interactive physical activity on executive function of children with autism through interactive physical activity teaching, and to verify the effective improvement of executive function of children with autism through interactive physical activity intervention. Four autistic children aged 8-10 were divided into the experimental group and the control group by literature review, interview, observation and experiment methods. Two children in the experimental group received 90 minutes of interactive physical activity once a week for 12 weeks. Through the working memory, inhibition ability, cognitive flexibility test indicators, the intervention subjects were pretested and post tested for 8 times. The working memory test scores of autistic children in the experimental group increased from 3.50-3.75 before intervention to 6.00-6.25 after intervention, and the inhibitory ability test scores increased from 2.75 before intervention to 5.00-5.75 after intervention, while the cognitive flexibility test scores did not change significantly. The total score of executive function test increased from 8.25-9.25 before intervention to 13.50-14.00 after intervention. Interactive physical activity has positive effects on working memory and inhibition in executive function of autistic children, but it has no effect on cognitive flexibility. Interactive physical activity should be based on the differences of children with autism and the fun of roller skating combined with the concept of interactive physical activity, targeted intervention for children with autism.