The Effects of Yoga Practices on Self-Regulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Objective(s): To systematically review evidence for the effectiveness of yoga practices in increasing self-regulation skills of children under 21 years of age with autism spectrum disorder.

Data Sources: Searches of two databases (PubMed and PsycINFO) with no date or language restrictions identified 61 unique results. Search terms included yoga and autism.

Study Selection: Included eight on-topic peer-reviewed journal articles that described yoga intervention techniques in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Data Extraction: Data were extracted according to Cochrane recommendations, including characteristics of participants, interventions, and outcomes. Quality assessment of all eight eligible studies was performed using an adapted version of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale (PEDro). Reliability was performed on abstract screening, data extraction, and quality assessment.

Data Synthesis: Three articles selected interventions from specific yoga programs, and three articles used guiding principles to aid in yoga intervention. Two articles did not report a source of their yoga intervention protocol. Yoga was effective in improving behavior and awareness. Yoga was not effective for reducing anxiety.

Conclusions: Yoga may be effective in promoting positive behaviors and improving attention/ awareness in children with ASD. Yoga may not be effective in reducing anxiety in this population. All measures (behavior, attention, and anxiety) relied mostly on external observations, which may not be an accurate depiction of internal states. Development of a shared definition of self-regulation is needed for consistency in both research and therapy. Further research is needed to establish clear impacts of yoga on self-regulation for children with ASD.

Author(s) Disclosures: Dr. Morean and Mrs. Ferguson are salaried faculty at Elmhurst University.