Physical activity and sleep of children with autism spectrum disorder during school versus summer months: lessons learned from a pilot study.

Objectives: Children's physical activity (PA) and sleep are less favorable during out-of-school time compared to days when they attend school. There is a lack of evidence exploring if this pattern exists in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: A within-subjects observational pilot...

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Publicado en:International Journal of Developmental Disabilities Vol. 72; no. 3; pp. 631 - 640
Autores principales: Brazendale, Keith, Garcia, Jeanette, Quelly, Susan, Lawrence, Shawn, Gurnurkar, Shilpa, Hunt, Ethan T.
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd May2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      issn: 20473869
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      dt: May2026
      vid: 72
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        193227010
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        10.1080/20473869.2024.2349833
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        atl: Physical activity and sleep of children with autism spectrum disorder during school versus summer months: lessons learned from a pilot study.
      aug:
        au:
          Brazendale, Keith
          Garcia, Jeanette
          Quelly, Susan
          Lawrence, Shawn
          Gurnurkar, Shilpa
          Hunt, Ethan T.
        affil: College of Health Professions and Sciences, University of Central FL, Orlando, Florida, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Physical Activity Evaluation
          Sleep Duration Physiology
          Autism Spectrum Disorder In Infancy and Childhood
          Schools
          Seasons
          Child Behavior Evaluation
          Human
          Nonexperimental Studies
          Pilot Studies
          Accelerometers
          Wrist
          Male
          Female
          White Persons
          Obesity
          Developmental Disabilities
          United States
          Child, Preschool
          Child
          Adolescence
          Descriptive Statistics
          Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test
          Post Hoc Analysis
          Data Analysis Software
          Funding Source
          Sedentary Behavior
          Child, Preschool: 2-5 years
          Child: 6-12 years
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Objectives: Children's physical activity (PA) and sleep are less favorable during out-of-school time compared to days when they attend school. There is a lack of evidence exploring if this pattern exists in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: A within-subjects observational pilot study assessed children with ASD' PA and sleep during a school and summer month via accelerometers on their non-dominant wrist for 24 hr/day for 14 days. Wilcoxon signed-rank sum tests were employed to compare summer versus school differences. Results: Six children with ASD (67% male, ∼6.6 years old, 50% non-Hispanic white, 66% overweight/obese) provided valid data. Reasons for a lack of valid data included participant 1) discomfort with wearing accelerometers, 2) unavailability during summer, and 3) providing one valid timepoint only. Six participants spent an additional +52.5 median minutes per day in moderate-to-vigorous PA (z=-1.99; p = 0.05) during school compared to summer. Children with ASD had higher moderate-to-vigorous PA on school month weekdays and weekend days compared to summer weekdays and weekend days (p < 0.05). Sleep duration was ∼ 7 h per night for this sample, with children's bedtimes 25 min earlier on school versus summer nights. Conclusions: PA and sleep differences may exist during school versus summer in children with ASD, however, studies in large samples of children with ASD that adopt supplementary measures of PA and sleep, and strategies to increase wear compliance, are needed.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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