Physical activity level comparisons of individuals with Autism spectrum disorder while playing active video games

Abstract

Many students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) receive adapted or specially designed physical education. Active video games (A VGs) are tools adapted physical education (APE) teachers use to promote physical activity (PA) in students with disabilities. However, little research exists on what game consoles are effective. The purpose of this study was to compare XBOX Kinect and Nintendo Wii active video game (A VG) consoles to see if either console elicited more physical activity (PA). Participants (N=15) included 12-21 year old youth with ASD who were tested in a counter balanced order once on XBOX Kinect and once on Nintendo Wii while playing Boxing. Each testing session started with a collection of anthropometric measures. Two wrist worn and two hip worn Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers and a waist worn OMRON HJ-720IT pedometer were used for to monitor participant's physical activity (PA) levels. Participants played boxing on each console for 6-minutes with a 4-minute break between activity sessions. A repeated measures analysis of variance (RMANOV A) found there were no significant differences in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVP A) levels between consoles. Also, a paired t-test showed no significant differences in steps between consoles. Study findings indicated both consoles elicited similar MVPA and similar step counts.