Effects of Aquatic Therapy on Vagal Tone and Social Behaviors in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

<p>Aquatic therapy has been shown to have behavioral benefits for participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) including social and swimming skills. The mechanism through which aquatic therapy has these effects has not been demonstrated. It is noted that several aspects of swimming programs such as deep breathing, physical exercise and cold exposure have been shown to increase vagus nerve activation (Mason et al.,2013; Presmanes et al., 2015; Yuan et al., 2001). Using a quasi-experimental block design, the present study evaluated the effect of aquatic therapy on vagal tone as well as behavior in participants with ASD (n=32) and without ASD (n=32). Measures consisted of social, swimming, emotional and cognitive tasks. Following the aquatic intervention participants with ASD demonstrated a statistically significant increase in vagal tone while typically developing participants displayed a significant decrease. The ASD group’s increased interest in the aquatic intervention and dysregulated vagus nerve activation may account for the groups’ difference in post-treatment vagal tone levels. The typically developing group’s lack of interest in the perceived trivial activity may account for the decrease in post-treatment vagal tone levels. However, both groups displayed a statistically significant increase on each social, swimming, emotional and cognitive measure. Positive correlations between vagal tone and social skills measures were found in participants with ASD. This study indicated that aquatic therapy can increase vagal tone in participants with ASD while also increasing swimming, social, emotional and cognitive abilities in both participants with and vi without ASD. Aquatic therapy is an intervention that can be replicated to treat individuals with ASD. It also has potential to be adapted for other mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Bell, Brittany Nichole

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jeanne Nakamura
• Saida Heshmati
• John Ashby

• Aquatic therapy
• ASD
• Autism
• Social Skills
• Swimming
• Vagal Tone
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/281

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1295