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Introduction

Autistic persons experience problems with movements and body awareness in everyday functionality, expressed in affected movement quality. Yet, there is a knowledge gap about the effects of interventions targeting these aspects in autistic persons.ObjectiveTo evaluate effects of Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) and treatment-as-usual (TAU), compared to TAU alone on movement quality in autistic persons.

Methods

In this pragmatic RCT, autistic persons with no intellectual disorder, 15–30 years old and in contact with habilitation services, were randomized to an intervention group (IG) (n = 28, 22 females) or a control group (CG) (n = 29, 21 females). The IG received 12 sessions of individual BBAT and TAU, the CG received TAU. Primary outcome was a person-reported measure of an individualized movement quality problem, using a numeric rating scale (NRS). Secondary outcome was Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality (BAS MQ), i.e., scored physiotherapist observations. Between- and within-group analyses, and individual one-sided t-tests were performed.

Results

Comparing the between-group changes in NRS and BAS MQ after 12 weeks, the differences were statistically significant in favor of the IG (p < 0.001). Within-group analyses: the IG had statistically significant improvements on both outcomes (p < 0.001), the CG had not. Individually in the IG, 54 % of the participants improved significantly in NRS and 41 % in BAS MQ. In the CG, the corresponding numbers were 10 % and 7 %, respectively.

Conclusion

BBAT and TAU were superior to TAU alone for improving movement quality. BBAT is a relevant intervention for autistic young adults to improve everyday functionality.