SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON TMA

AUTISM: THE FIRST RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WATER THERAPY FOR CHILDREN AND KIDS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS IS FROM ITALY

The first research on the effectiveness of TMA (Multisystem Aquatic Therapy, the Ippolito-Caputo Method) aimed at treating adaptive functioning deficits in autistic children comes from Italy, and was published on the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, one of the most prestigious scientific journals about autism.

TMA is a multi-system intervention methodology resulting from over twenty years of working with water, and it was developed specifically for people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Autism is a complex disorder of early-onset neurological development that currently affects approximately 1 out of 100 people; males are diagnosed four times more often than females, and knows no racial, ethnic or social barriers. The person suffering from this disharmony may also have intellectual disability and, in one third of the cases, other neurological disorders such as epilepsy. People with autism spectrum disorder experience peculiar difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction, showing restricted interests and repetitive behaviours; adaptive functioning issues can be relevant, for example in the management of activities related to leisure and games. TMA, developed by Giovanni Caputo and Giovanni Ippolito, was created with the specific objective of developing a global (multisystem) intervention methodology that takes into account the relational, emotional, behavioural and social aspects of people with autism; the program is integrated into the family context and works in a natural environment, the public swimming pool, which offers a unique opportunity for interaction and social participation.

The research (Effectiveness of a Multisystem Aquatic Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Caputo et al. (2018), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-017-3456-y was conducted in collaboration with Massimiliano Conson, Professor of the Department of Psychology of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (in Caserta). The results showed that a 10-month intervention program with the TMA Caputo-Ippolito method may lead to significant improvements compared to a control group (children with autism who did not take part in the multisystem treatment) in different areas of adaptive functioning, as well as in the participants’ swimming skills. In particular, children undergoing TMA showed significant improvements in functional adaptation, in expressing their emotions and adapting to changes and general activities, all skills measured with appropriate formalized tools. The results therefore suggest that the TMA Caputo-Ippolito method is useful for intervening effectively on multiple areas of functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder, by promoting relevant changes in the behavioural and emotional aspects of the disorder. It is possible to read the research paper on the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders website, available at the following link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-017-3456-y.

Below, please find the abstract.

Abstract “Effectiveness of a Multisystem Aquatic Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders”, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,

Aquatic therapy improves motor skills of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but its usefulness for treating functional difficulties needs to be verified yet. We tested effectiveness of a multisystem aquatic therapy on behavioural, emotional, social and swimming skills of children with ASD. Multisystem aquatic therapy was divided in three phases (emotional adaptation, swimming adaptation and social integration) implemented in a 10-months-programme. At post-treatment, the aquatic therapy group showed significant improvements relative to controls on functional adaptation (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales), emotional response, adaptation to change and on activity level (Childhood Autism Rating Scale). Swimming skills learning was also demonstrated. Multisystem aquatic therapy is useful for ameliorating functional impairments of children with ASD, going well beyond a swimming training.

 

Keywords

Aquatic therapy Autism Spectrum Disorders Intervention Social-communicative skills Functional adaptation

 

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3456-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

 

Notes

Author Contributions

GC participated in Conception and Organization of the Research project and Manuscript Preparation (Writing, Review and Critique of the manuscript). GI participated in Conception, Organization and Execution of the Research project and Review of the manuscript. MM participated in Organization and Execution of the Research project and Review of the manuscript. LS participated in Organization and Execution of the Research project and Execution of the Statistical Analysis. MRM participated in Execution of the Research project and Review of the manuscript. SS participated in Execution of the Research project and Execution of the Statistical Analysis. MC participated in Conception and Organization of the Research project and Design and Execution of Statistical Analysis and Manuscript Preparation (Writing, Review and Critique of the manuscript).

 

Compliance with Ethical Standards

 

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

 

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

 

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

 

Supplementary material

10803_2017_3456_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx (36 kb)

Supplementary material 1 (XLSX 35 KB)

 

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