Martial Arts Essay

Professional Article Outline - Adapted Martial Arts

I. Intro

Children with autism face many unique challenges in everyday life. The challenges are multifaceted on social, physical, and emotional levels. Interestingly, traditional martial arts training is uniquely positioned to address all these areas of need. The traditional martials arts all have three basic components in training an individual: physical training for the body, mental training to discipline the mind, and spiritual training for the enrichment of one’s attitude about life.

II. Background / Evidence

In my thirty years both training in and teaching martial arts, I have encountered many success stories, where martial arts training helped a person with autism develop strength, character, and emotional stability through that practice. There is much evidence to support the fact that physical training promote mental well-being. Some of that evidence will be cited below, but it is simply a truism that It's hard to feel bad mentally when you feel good physically. Psychologists

B., & Dunn, W. (2010). Relationship Between Context and Sensory Processing in Children With Autism. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,64(3), 474-483. doi:10.5014/ajot.2010.09077

Case-Smith, J., & Arbesman, M. (2008). Evidence-Based Review of Interventions for Autism Used in or of Relevance to Occupational Therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,62(4), 416-429. doi:10.5014/ajot.62.4.416

Hilton, C., Graver, K., & Lavesser, P. (2007). Relationship between social competence and sensory processing in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders,1(2), 164-173. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2006.10.002

Silverman, F., & Tyszka, A. C. (2017). Supporting Participation for Children With Sensory Processing Needs and Their Families: Community-Based Action Research. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,71(4). doi:10.5014/ajot.2017.025544 III. Mission /