Take-home message

The most important strategies to remember are:
  1. Know the strengths and weaknesses of the individual with ASD (e.g., their interests, fixations, distinctive features, what is acceptable and what is not);
  2. Integrate the person with ASD gradually into an activity (e.g., show them before, visit the facilities, start alone, then add participants);
  3. Adopt a routine (e.g., warm-up period before the class/exercises);
  4. Use a structure when transmitting messages (e.g., give short and precise instructions, make sure that the young person is looking at you, that they pay attention);
  5. Promote consistency among all those who intervene with the young person; use the same strategies (e.g., same approaches, same ways to communicate with the young person);
  6. To inform other participants of the reality of young people with ASD and be vigilant in reducing any form of intimidation or exclusion of the other participants.

Materials and Methods

In order to efficiently engage in physical activities among peers, greater motor skill proficiency and greater perceived motor competence are necessary. Greater perceived motor competence is also a contributing factor to participate in active games in a social setting. In addition, this may translate into more frequent engagement with peers, providing more opportunity for social interactions.\cite{Guest_2017}

Intervention

Basing on current scientific literature, this intervention is designed to improve motor skills among individuals with ASD. The purpose is to evaluate the impact of multi-sport activities on motor skills, physical activity, physical self-perceptions, social and adaptive behaviour in a sport-related context. First, all the strategies described in the Introduction paragraph will be explained, disclosed and discussed with the educators/teachers/trainers which will participate in the project, then the same strategies will be implemented during the activities.

Procedures

Motor skills will be incorporated into active group games in order to facilitate a high level of practice and repetition in realistic situations \cite{Ryan_2017}. The camp curriculum was inspired by Special Olympics FUNdamentals program, which falls within the Long Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD) to target the development of fundamental motor skills of young children with IDD (Special Olympics Canada, 2007). Skills taught at the camp will include locomotor and object control skills. The skills taught will progress in difficulty throughout the week and will be implemented into translational sport settings including: track and field, basketball, soccer, and baseball.

Parameters of evaluation

These parameters will be evaluated at the baseline and after the intervention:
Motor proficiency. Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2). The BOT-2 delivers the most precise and comprehensive measure of motor skills, both gross and fine. It contains subtests and challenging game-like tasks and is very easy to administer. 
Physical activity. Step-tracking app via smartphone. This is a reliable, validated, smart and very popular modality of assessing levels of general physical activity.
Physical self-perceptions.  The Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) is used for to study how self- perceptions influence physical activity and other psychosocial constructs. The CY-PSPP is a 36-item questionnaire with insight on six subscales: sport/athletic competence, condition/stamina competence, attractive body adequacy, strength competence, physical self-worth, and global self-worth.
Social and adaptive behaviour.  The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) was designed to assess individuals who are suspected of having significant social difficulties or ASD characteristics. It is a standardized assessment used to measure social skills, problem behaviours, and academic competence.