A Stroke Against Autism Exercise Can Play a Big Part in Curbing Symptoms of Autism and Similar Disorders

Four swimmers step to the racing block, secure their goggles and crouch, coiled, awaiting the start.

For Ashley Ottaviano, the race is a battle not of speed, but of will.

A beep pierces the quiet arena. The young athletes spring forward, slicing the water.

The pool erupts in a splash as the swimmers advance in a flurry of butterfly strokes.

Cheers echo through the Greater Elgin Area YMCA pool area, gaining volume as the top two swimmers touch the wall and head into the second lap. Three more to go.

In the middle lane, Ashley lags slightly. She swims at a steady clip, never too fast, never too slow. She stretches her arms forward with each stroke, lifts her head for a breath and plows relentlessly through the water.

Two laps turn into three, then four. Ashley falls behind; the distance between her and the wake kicked by the others widens.

That she still swims when the rest finish and hop from pool doesn’t concern Ashley or the crowd. They cheer loudly, joined now by her competitors.

They know she swims with a different goal in mind.

They know she swims not to win, but to live more like them.

Ashley has Asperger syndrome, a milder form of autism. Her family years ago discovered what research now confirms – exercise is a powerful treatment for autism and related disorders, channeling impulsive urges, boosting a child’s focus and helping autistic children not only survive, but flourish.

Discovering autism

Ashley Ottaviano began swimming the way all three of her sisters did – early.

The Elgin teen was 5 when she took her first swim class.

Yet, out of the water, Ashley charted her own path.

She didn’t ride her tricycle. She parked it in the garage, aligning it and all the other bikes so perfectly that neighbors thought they were displayed for sale.

She didn’t speak as early as her sisters did. As a 3-year-old, Ashley used 75 words, far less than the 1,000 words typical of toddlers.

Later, she rarely experimented with clothes, instead choosing the same outfit every day.

When Ashley was a young girl, doctors confirmed what the Ottavianos suspected – their daughter had Asperger syndrome, a form of autism where people generally can function well but might struggle with social and communication skills.

“We knew things were a little strange,” recalls Karen Ottaviano, an oncology nurse at Provena St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elgin. “She had lots of autistic characteristics. She didn’t talk at all.”

Obsessive compulsive disorder, often indicative of Asperger syndrome, compounded Ashley’s condition, giving rise to her aversion to change and need for routine.

When routines are disrupted – not just for Ashley but for her sisters and friends – Ashley gets upset, her mother said. When the Ottavianos traveled to Arizona for a wedding, Ashley cried when she left home and later cried when they returned, her tears lasting the entire plane trip and car ride back to Elgin, her mother recalls.

“She gets agitated easily,” Ottaviano said. “It can be a change, but sometimes we don’t know what it is. She has a hard time.”

Medication helps and swimming, with a schedule you could set your watch by and guaranteed exertion, channels much of that agitation.

Exercise helps many children with autism spectrum disorders – a term that encompasses various degrees of autism – cope in other ways, medical experts say. Aerobic activity can lengthen an autistic child’s attention span, improve behavior and foster friendships with other kids.

A team of researchers at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers State University of New Jersey studied the effect of jogging and walking on a 5-year-old autistic boy.

After jogging, the boy showed much less self-stimulation – which can take many forms including rocking, hand-clapping or biting. The effect diminished after 40 minutes, though his behavior remained better than before his exercise.

“The exercise had to be intense,” center director Sandra Harris said. “It was the vigorous impact of the activity that seemed to make the difference.”

No one-size fix exists for all children with autism spectrum disorders, Harris cautioned. Nor does any research exist to suggest exercise lessens the severity of a child’s autistic condition. But activity does help many children cope.

“It’s conceivable to me that exercise creates the same kind of brain stimulation, the kind of stimulation that reduces the need for engaging in stereotypical or inappropriate behavior,” Harris said.

Ottaviano said she’s unfamiliar with the neurological studies but sees the benefit of exercise whenever Ashley is in the pool with her teammates.

“She swims right along with everyone else. She trains with everyone else. She can do anything anyone else can do,” said YMCA Aquatics Director Greg Lake, who has coached Ashley for four years.

Ashley proves it every day. She races with the Elgin YMCA’s all- year club team. She turned teammates and coaches into friends.

She enlisted with the junior varsity swim team at Larkin High School on Elgin’s west side, where she attends special education classes. Now a junior, Ashley hopes to make varsity.

And when Ashley made her debut at the Illinois Special Olympics this summer, she was the only Elgin Area School District U-46 student to claim two gold medals.

“It makes me happy,” said Ashley, grinning and still wet from her four-lap swim.

In the water, Ashley’s anxieties fade.

In the water, Ashley is just another member of the team.

“Swimming has probably helped to save her life as much as anything,” Gary Ottaviano said. “Her swimming has actually been therapeutic to help control things she has to deal with every day. … Without it, I’m not sure what we would do.”

Shades of autism

One out of every 160 children born nationwide will have an autism spectrum disorder, a neurological disorder that includes autism, Asperger syndrome and other pervasive developmental disorders, statistics suggest.

“There are certain areas of the brain that have extra wires, but other areas that got really shorted on wiring. It’s clearly in the brain,” said Nancy Minshew, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Autism Research.

The severity of the condition differs with each child, as do the symptoms.

Yet a thread stitching many of them together is social isolation, Minshew said.

“That’s the main symptom,” said Minshew, a professor of neurology and psychiatry. “The most impaired individuals really might not have any interest in other people. They won’t initiate contact.”

Those less impaired might start conversations, but not always grasp the didactic volley of questions and answers.

“They’ll see the movie and know the details,” Minshew said, “but they don’t really know what’s going on. They’ll know every capital of every country in the world, but not have an opinion on anything.”

For some children, sports – laden with team camaraderie and social interactions – combat the isolation that comes with autism, medical experts say.

“I don’t think we really know why,” said Gary Mesibov, director of the Division for the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Mesibov first noticed the value of exercise for autistic children during the 1970s when the autism center opened a group home for teens struggling with severe forms of autism. It was, he recalls, a challenging place.

“These were our toughest kids we gathered together,” Mesibov said. “A night didn’t go by that you didn’t have one outburst or another.”

Until one summer.

Kids traveled to a farm, where they worked as the weather thickened with North Carolina heat. The days were long, the activity constant. And the outbursts were few.

“Students were less intense and more focused with their attention,” Mesibov recalls. “We hit on exercise as the key to that.”

Soon after, Mesibov began folding exercise into programs for autistic children. Today, he often recommends that schools include physical activity in a child’s individual education plan or IEP.

“It’s a good way to teach other things as well as physical fitness and keeping them on task,” Mesibov said.

Pick your sport

Eric Smith needed help.

With two autistic boys within two years of each other, the Grayslake man searched for an activity to get the kids moving while keeping them entertained and close at hand.

He tried soccer. It didn’t go well.

“They really didn’t seem to enjoy it,” said Smith, president of the Autism Society of Illinois, an organization with 700 members, many drawn from the suburbs.

“Or they’d enjoy it for five minutes out of 90 minutes,” Smith said.

Biking proved more popular. Smith taught his 10-year-old son, Dylan, to ride free of training wheels this summer.

“He got it really fast, considering,” Smith said. “Even as high- functioning as he is, to try to tell him to keep your balance, sit back on the seat, keep your weight in the middle … that stuff doesn’t get through to him as words. He had to feel it.”

Biking also was a hit with Smith’s 12-year-old son, Evan. But when Evan struggles, Smith skips the bike ride and steers Evan to the backyard – to swing.

“Swinging always calms him down,” Smith said. “There are certain times in the winter when we say to ourselves, ‘He really needs to swing now.’ It seems like there’s a build up of energy. He needs some kind of release.”

For children with autism spectrum disorders, that release comes easiest in pursuits unencumbered by rules.

Football rarely works, said Deborah Michael, an occupational therapist and member of the Autism Society of Illinois’ professional advisory board.

Because some autistic children don’t have sharp motor skills or a strong grasp on the nuances of a game’s strategy, team sports might not suit well.

“They need to be taught how to play. I try to recommend things that aren’t necessarily team sports,” said Michael, who heads North Shore Pediatric Therapy, which serves about 100 children a week. Many of them are autistic.

“When you get them in a pool swimming,” Michael said, “you’re basically waking up their bodies.”

Belonging

With her swimsuit and yellow racing cap, Ashley blends into the crowd of Elgin Pelican team swimmers.

“Hi, Ashley,” a young girl says with a wave as she hurries to the starting block for a 50-meter freestyle race.

“Ashley, come here. I want to show you this trick at the payphone,” a boy calls, amusing himself between races.

Ashley smiles, laughs and relaxes in her surroundings.

The Elgin team bench fills with 80 athletes, some as young as 7 years old and others nearly 20. Ashley knows them all, and they all know her.

“Our swim team is like our family,” says Michelle Pelka, a 16- year-old Elgin girl who has been swimming alongside Ashley for seven years. “She’s one of the hardest workers on the team.”

She’s certainly one of the most consistent.

Ashley sets a speed and sticks to it for laps, outlasting many swimmers her age, says the YMCA’s Greg Lake, standing poolside during a recent swim meet.

“Anything long, she wants to do. She pretty much has one speed. The thing is, she’s one of the few kids who can do it. Instead of getting tired, she keeps going,” Lake said. “When she swims, all the kids kick it up and cheer for her.”

Ashley loathes missing a practice, her mother says, her dedication rooted in her need for routine.

“Our swim team has an attendance award and she usually wins it,” Karen Ottaviano says, glancing across the pool arena to where Ashley sits with her teammates.

Ottaviano hopes the dedication and perseverance instilled in Ashley by swimming will carry over to the world outside the water when Ashley graduates Larkin High next year.

“Our goal is to have her be a productive member of society,” Ottaviano said. “We want her to hold a job. She’s very capable. She can definitely do it. Who knows? She may just keep swimming.”