Neural Effects of Creative Movement, General Movement, and Sedentary Play Interventions on Interpersonal Synchrony in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preliminary fNIRS Study

TL;DR

This study explores how creative movement, general movement, and sedentary play affect brain activity and interpersonal synchrony in children with autism.

Contribution

The study is the first to use fNIRS to examine neural changes in children with ASD following creative movement interventions.

Findings

Creative movement led to significant improvements in interpersonal synchrony and widespread brain activation.

General movement increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus.

Children with lower baseline social skills showed greater improvement in synchrony.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with interpersonal synchrony (IPS). While creative movement (CM) interventions have shown benefits for social, cognitive, and motor skills in children with ASD, the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements remain unclear. This pilot randomized control trial examined the behavioral and neural effects of CM, general movement (GM), and sedentary play (SP) interventions. Methods: Twenty-two children with ASD (Mean Age ± SE = 8.7 ± 1.9) participated. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure cortical activation during a drumming synchrony task before and after 8 weeks of intervention. Results: The CM group demonstrated significant improvements in IPS and the most widespread increases in socially enhanced activation across the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and superior temporal sulcus (STS). The GM group showed increased activation in the left IFG, while the SP group showed enhanced activation in the left STS. Children with lower baseline adaptive functioning and social responsiveness showed greater IPS improvement. Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of CM in improving IPS in children with ASD and support the use of fNIRS to capture neural effects following interventions.

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