Autism and Martial ARt

[MingTheMerciless]

How do Autistic People fare in Martial Art ? Have any of them been successful in it ?

 

[Kacey]

Like anything else, it depends on the person. Certainly, there have been several people who have reported great success with including autistic students in their classes, but it depends on the needs of the students and the skills of the instructor(s).

As both an instructor and a special education teacher, I would suggest a class with a predictable and consistent structure, as that is something that often helps people with autism adapt to new situations - I would consider that to be more important than the style.

Are you asking in the abstract, or did you have a specific person in mind?

 

[still learning]

Hello, Patience and lots of it! Most of them want to be a part of the group/class.

They have shown lots of improvement as the months go by as far as behavior is concern, because of the structure of the classes.

Martial art classes are very good for them ( I do recomend JUDO). Lots of physcial activities, they will learn how fall , roll and tumble.

Most of the parents in our past classes enrolled them for short period, months to maybe a year or two. As they get older their focus changes.

You will need to find a good teacher willing to handle the childern.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I would sign them up? maybe a few classes at first...before any long term agreement. Month to month. They will need to purchase a uniform.

Marital arts is a GOOD THING FOR THEM!!! ...........ALOHA

 

[MingTheMerciless]

Well , I done BJJ , Boxing and JKD / Kali Concepts ( and I am doing great and fine in it ) , I am kinda 50-50 Austistic , so this is question that I am kinda curious about and wonder if there are any people who are autistic right here or knew a person who are austistic and practicing martial art . When I knew of another autistic person , they tend to be great musician , mathematician , scientist and artist . I do know a few Autistic people who are doing great at team sport such as basketball and soccer ( i am doing great as a goalkeeper back in my high school in singapore ) .

I was a little bit anti-social when I was a small boy , often isolate myself ( everyone scare me ) from the rest of the group but I eventually grown out of this when I hit puberty . I do happen to be pick on when I was a boy . I learn most of my social expierience in the hard way .

Ann my first Martial art is Wing Chun personally taught by my dad ( my dad were taught my Yip Man and I am move from Hong Kong to Malaysia to Singapore and right now I am in Toronto by myself ) but I spend more time day dreaming ( it must be the autism that I had ) than learning it and Silat due to me spending most of my childhood and in Malaysia and Singapore and I stop learning the both of them at around the age of 12 . I also started practising Archery on the way at the age of 13 ( i started with modern recurve bow and eventually switch to learning traditional mongol archery ) .And eventually I switch over to the martial art like BJJ , Boxing and JKD/Kali at age of 16 or 17 and also started bodybuilding on the way . But then due to my recent immigrant to canada ( where I am taking my college education ) , I pick up Historical European Medieval Martial Art ( I love European Culture and their sword art.)

SO i think it depend on where the autistic person interest lies .....

 

[Kacey]

SO i think it depend on where the autistic person interest lies .....

So it does - but that's the case for everyone, so I didn't see any need to mention it. Everyone on MT that I recall off-hand who has mentioned being autistic or having an autistic child in a martial arts class has attributed their own or their child's success to the instructor rather than the art. Even so, a particular art may be just what someone is looking for - autistic or not - but if the instructor and class aren't a good fit, it really won't matter in the long run, because people are less likely to stay in any activity - regardless of interest - if they don't enjoy being there. Some do, but not many.

 

[MingTheMerciless]

Quite True , regardless of interest , if the intructor is arrogrant , inpatient , bad manner and spend more time scolding their student than actually teaching them ( my worst exp in MA is Kendo , I quit in just 6 month that was around the age of 15 ) , their autistic most likely cannot handle such social expierience and will definitely quit .

Well , I was a lucky that my instructor is nicer and patient to me .

 

[Tames D]

Well , I done BJJ , Boxing and JKD / Kali Concepts ( and I am doing great and fine in it ) , I am kinda 50-50 Austistic , so this is question that I am kinda curious about and wonder if there are any people who are autistic right here or knew a person who are austistic and practicing martial art . When I knew of another autistic person , they tend to be great musician , mathematician , scientist and artist . I do know a few Autistic people who are doing great at team sport such as basketball and soccer ( i am doing great as a goalkeeper back in my high school in singapore ) .

I was a little bit anti-social when I was a small boy , often isolate myself ( everyone scare me ) from the rest of the group but I eventually grown out of this when I hit puberty . I do happen to be pick on when I was a boy . I learn most of my social expierience in the hard way .


Ann my first Martial art is Wing Chun personally taught by my dad ( my dad were taught my Yip Man and I am move from Hong Kong to Malaysia to Singapore and right now I am in Toronto by myself ) but I spend more time day dreaming ( it must be the autism that I had ) than learning it and Silat due to me spending most of my childhood and in Malaysia and Singapore and I stop learning the both of them at around the age of 12 . I also started practising Archery on the way at the age of 13 ( i started with modern recurve bow and eventually switch to learning traditional mongol archery ) .And eventually I switch over to the martial art like BJJ , Boxing and JKD/Kali at age of 16 or 17 and also started bodybuilding on the way . But then due to my recent immigrant to canada ( where I am taking my college education ) , I pick up Historical European Medieval Martial Art ( I love European Culture and their sword art.)

SO i think it depend on where the autistic person interest lies .....

Thanks for sharing your story. You give me added optimism for my 6 year old son. He's been training in Karate for 6 months now and it's a great thing for him. He's made significant improvments in his focus and concentration.

Prior to his starting Karate, I worked with him on Kung Fu, and although he did well picking up the self defense part of it, he was lacking in focus (possibly because I am not very good at teaching. Can do, but can't teach type). The class structure seems to be making a big difference. He doe's well in a class setting with other kids.

I guess only time will tell. Good luck on your journey.

 

[MingTheMerciless]

Well , thx for the feedback and I think you are a great and patient father , just make the karate and kung fu lesson the beginning of his martial art training and jorney to life , making it a path to understanding and concept . Well , I hope that he will not have to learn social expierience in the hard way , good self-esteem , respect and dignity are important to any Autistic Children . Just be there for him whenever he had problem with life

 

[CuongNhuka]

My Sensei has two autistic children. Both of them did Cuong Nhu for a little while. They both ended up decideding Cuong Nhu is not for them, since they both have issues with contact. Which is a component of our training. Some of our other students have other mental/physical/emotional issues. All have trained with degrees of success. It is possible, but you may have to considered other forms of exercise/recreation.

 

[terryl965]

We have an autism child and like every other person he has his good days and his bad days, The thing is just keeping them busy does not always work you need to find that niche so they are enjoying there training and want to train with the class everyday.

I know over the last couple of years he has had more good days than bad but he is enjoying himself.

 

[MingTheMerciless]

My Sensei has two autistic children. Both of them did Cuong Nhu for a little while. They both ended up decideding Cuong Nhu is not for them, since they both have issues with contact. Which is a component of our training. Some of our other students have other mental/physical/emotional issues. All have trained with degrees of success. It is possible, but you may have to considered other forms of exercise/recreation.

What is Cuong Nhu ?

 

[CuongNhuka]

Cuong Nhu (meaning Hard-Soft) is a Vietnamese martial art based largely on Shotokan and Judo. There is also a heavy influence from Aikido and Western Boxing. There is also a large amount of the concepts behind Wing Chun, with physical material introduced primarily in the Dan Ranks, along with Viet Vo Do Vovinam and Tai Chi Chuan.
For more please visit www.cuongnhu.com.

 

[Last Fearner]

How do Autistic People fare in Martial Art ? Have any of them been successful in it ?

I think this is an excellent question, and someday, I hope to see more nation wide/world wide research done to answer this question. Tracking autistic children through many different activities (including various forms of Martial Art), at various stages of their lives might give some insight to what helps each child.

Since Autism has such a wide spectrum of attributes, and affects each autistic child differently, there are many factors to consider, and any research and/or theories into the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of Martial Art training would have to take all of that into account. Where one child might do well in one system of Martial Art, another child might not (depending solely on the child's level of autism). On the other hand, each child might have done better if the instructor was better trained to deal with autistic children. If an instructor does not have a clue of what autism is, what the most recent medical and therapeutic research suggests, then they will not likely handle the education of an autistic child in the best interest of the child's development.

I have three sons of my own. The oldest two are 9 year old twins. Jared is dealing with mild autism (more along the lines of Asperger's Syndrome - more info here: http://autism.about.com/od/aspergerssyndrome/Asperger_Syndrome.htm).

The other twin, Justin, shows more of an ADHD behavior where it is difficult to focus and concentrate for long periods, and memory retention is a challenge. It has been difficult, as a parent, to watch twin children develop so differently - - to see Jared gain some skills, only to slip back in early development. He began to lag 3 months behind his brother, then 6 months, then a year or two with some things. His speech is lacking, but there is some vocabulary. It often sounds 'robotic' when he is asking for something he wants.

I have been teaching Taekwondo for nearly 30 years. I have always had a knack for identifying the learning skills of my students, and reaching them on whatever path it took to get them to learn. When I was teaching at the age of 18, my instructor told me he was impressed with how much patience I had with the children, and how well they listened to me. Some discipline and structure, some entertainment and fantasy, but mostly consistent, positive reinforcement of desired behavior and skills. Speak to them on their level, without talking down to them.

I home-school my boys, and keep a close eye on their development. The twins have been studying Taekwondo since they were 5, and I have seen remarkable improvements. Some of which I can attribute to natural maturity and development over time, but I can also see where the structured training has helped. Like Master Stoker mentioned, Jared has his good days and bad. On the "bad days," I might let him wander a bit, and even sit and watch class. Occasionally, I won't even put him in class if I see it coming on.

When he is doing well, he has fun, gives commands for the class to bow in and out, and can perform some techniques fairly well. Sometimes his muscle control is focused enough to break a board, and other times he lacks the power, but that depends on his focus at that time. If I reward him with a hug, or pick him up and twirl him around (something he enjoys) he goes back to the activity and tries harder. I wrestle with my boys for fun, and I teach them some contact self defense, but I don't believe Jared would have been one to do well starting in wrestling or Judo. His particular autism rejects physical contact, unless he his comfortable with the person, interested in the activity, and in the mood for it. Otherwise, he might respond like Dustin Hoffman in "Rainman," covering his ears and screaming out of disapproval.

I am no expert on the vast array of autism, but I do read about the different experts approaches to working with autistic children. My nephew (who is not autistic) is working toward his Master's degree in psychology, specializing in the treatment of autism. He is currently working with some of the top experts in the field. One thing he has said to me is that they typically do not label, or diagnose an autistic child with a specific term because it tends to dictate how people identify them, and limit the options that they might consider. Each autistic child is so different in the many aspects of how their brain can be hardwired to interpret their surroundings, and respond at any given time, and all of this can change over time.

I hope to learn more, and enjoy hearing from anyone who has actually been through autism first-hand (not as a parent or teacher, but as in having the symptoms of autism yourself). I read a really insightful article of such a nature a while back (TIME magazine: May 15, 2006 issue). Ming, just to be able to be out there on your own, going to college, typing on the internet where others can read what your are thinking and saying is wonderful to me. I can only hope to have such a positive experience with my own son some day.

Good luck to you.

D.J. Eisenhart

 

[MingTheMerciless]

There are different type or level of Autism . For most part , only family and closest friends ( I have very few friends , I only keep those that I trust and those that willign to trust me ) knew of my history . For most part , nobody know that I am Autistic unless I told them ( most people cannot tell that I am autistic anyway , I am 50-50 autism. many people misunderstood autism and other fear autistic people ) .

As I grow and expirience with life , I can socialize ( Nowaday , I dun seem to have any problem talking to girls though ) and understand people better ( able to read facial expression and body language much better ) and have much better attention span . All of this isn't naturally programme inside me when I was a kid , so social experience is something that I and any other autistic kid have to learn and memorize by hard .

But then going to college ( migrating to Canada ) on my own ( not really though , I am living with my uncle ) is a dream come true because it gave me a sense of independent .