The power of play

Step into physical therapy professor Anjana Bhat's colorful Move 2 Learn Innovation Lab on the University of Delaware's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, and you may see children moving to the beat or leaping over structures as part of an obstacle course. For them, it's fun and games. But for researchers like Bhat, it's an exploration of how play affects cognitive functioning in children with autism.

Bhat's intervention research, funded by the Delaware INBRE Pilot Project Award, separated autistic children ages 5 to 15 into two groups: a whole-body movement group and a sedentary play group.

Children in the movement group participated in a gross motor intervention involving full-body exercise.

"There was a lot of decision-making involved," Bhat explained. "Children can choose to jump over cups or leap over spots. The child had to make these choices ahead of time and cycle through the activity."

Sometimes music played, and children had to move in sync with an adult.

They'd make music with drums, bells and cymbals, or dance with an adult who switched between moving fast and slow, Bhat said.

Meanwhile, children in the sedentary play group engaged in seated activities like building with blocks, arts and crafts, or reading.

Research published in the journal Disability and Rehabilitation found that children who engaged in whole-body movement saw improved executive functioning.

"These are the skills required in daily life to make decisions and choices about how to do an activity with multiple parts," Bhat said. "It requires a lot of thinking ahead so the task becomes fluid."

Bhat also noted that exercise increases blood supply to the prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain involved in executive functioning.

"That's another reason we may see generally improved cognitive performance following exercise," she said.

No improvements in cognitive function were observed in the sedentary play group.

The study, which spanned from 2020 to 2022, included children who participated either face-to-face or via telehealth.

"Positive outcomes were seen across both subgroups, proving the intervention is effective whether delivered via Zoom or in person," Bhat said.

Next, Bhat hopes to use these findings to obtain federal funding for a larger study that uses neuroimaging to validate behavioral findings.