Martial arts and the ASD kid

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We've been talking recently about enrolling Eldest in some sort of martial arts class (or, alternatively, a Yoga class), and I was curious as to other people's experiences.

Eldest is high-functioning ASD, seven, very easily frustrated these days, and has issues with his upper body strength. He doesn't deal well with pain, and tends to cry fairly easily if he's injured.

On the other hand, he's very enthusiastic about...well, anything. He was shown a few Yoga poses in summer school, and demonstrated them as soon as he got home -- with youngest imitating, which was darned cute. If we got him into a class, he'd almost certainly throw himself into it, hard. He's also very good at listening to authority figures, and is generally very obedient when it comes to people who aren't his parents.

Have your kids taken martial arts? How did they do, and were there any particular pitfalls? What type would you recommend, or recommend against?

(Learning self-defense would be nice, but it's not the goal here -- I want him to have fun, get some exercise, meet some new friends, and hopefully work a bit on his strength issues.)

It should be great.

I've done karate & kickboxing, my eldest has done karate and is now boxing.

Taekwondo can be very good too.

Go along yourself and watch a class to be sure that you think it will suit your child.
Every instructor is different so you might need to shop around a bit to find the one that is right for your child.

Hi
We tried our son a few years ago when he was around 7 year old at a local Jiu Jitsu class.
He was fine until the actual moves started then he would get upset and said that he didn't want to stay because "..everyone keeps hitting me.."

I have heard that ASD kids can gain alot from martial arts classes, just don't think my son was ready for it, maybe when he is older and only if he wants to try again. I would love him to give it another go for all the reasons you mention.

Luke Jackson in his book Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome talks his experiences of martial arts. I am sure other parents here will be able to advise you more - Good Luck!

That sounds great! And you never know what their next special interest will be. I wonder if it'll help with his aggression too! A constructive way to get frustration out.

I did judo for a short while. It was not much of a success. I was by far the smallest kid and I had a lot of problems because of my lack of good motor skills and the fact that the others didn't really like me.

I've heard lots of good stories about AS and martial arts, though, so I wouldn't let it put you off. Just try to find the right place.

i also tried some judo when i was younger, but it wasn't for me. the only reason i did ok-ish (even won 2nd place on a few tournaments) is becouse i was significantly taller then other in my weight/age class, so i could use my size as a 'weapon'.

but as for longer term maritial arts for me, it's better that i dont;
i think i could use the discipline and focussing techniques tought, but i realise already that whenever i use a significant portion of my strength and/or am in some physical struggle (me and my housemates sometimes play contact games), that i lose control over my agression.
i dont know how strong i really am, i keep surprizing myself when i use my strength, but i also have a 'wrong' perception of the human body; i project my own pain tolerance and weaknesses on that of the NTs; being hyposensitive to any pain that doesn't break a bone makes this quite dangerous, especially combined with an unknown amount of strength and a loss of control.

every time i notice myself tensing up, i use the last bits of conscious willpower i have left to yield (usually losing the game), to prevent serious injury (or worse) to almost everyone around me.


i know i'm not your son, but i type this out as a consideration, several of my AS friends have simular experiences, so it might turn bad if you bring your son in a situation where he is expected to act agressive and hurt others...

Find a martial arts class that has instructors who've worked with kids with disabilities before: they are not uncommon.

My daughter went to Taekwondo classes. She was between the ages of 3 and 5 and classes were for pre-school kids. The first one she went to was quite good. I never had any bad reports about her and she got up to a white belt with a green stripe. But, the teachers seemed to be taking us for a ride and the costs were creeping up, so I found another one. This seemed good and I was really happy with the teacher, but my daughter wouldn't participate properly. Unlike the first one, parents were expected to sit in the hall, as the kids were so young. I think this was distracting her too much. She never appeared to be doing the same as the other kids (or did it but several seconds or minutes later). Then she would crawl about the floor. I was really embarrassed (and I had no idea that she might have an ASD at the time). I really wanted this to work out, as I thought it would help with discipline and concentration. Probably if she had been a bit older, or if I had known about the ASD and spoken to the teacher about it, things would have been different. As it was, there was really nothing I could say, as she baffled me, not knowing how she might behave from one second to the next.

Good luck, it's really worth trying.

I've done really well with yoga classes. Although I do tend to get frustrated there as well.

Yoga sounds like a good plan!

My son really wanted o try martial arts so we enrolled him in Karate. The first month he layed on the floor, he says becasuse he didn't know how to do it. Finally the second month he started trying the techniques but became so frustrated because he couldn't do them exactly right so he would have a meltdown. After several months we decided that we gave it a good try but it was causing too much stress on him and us.

Yoga would make a great foundation for martial arts (bonus, it's not competitive). You could start with that and then add the other. I think a school that does not focus on tournaments, focusing more on the artistry and discipline than the sport aspect would be a better fit for an ASD kid. (I took Tang Soo Do and Yoga when I was 19-23 and loved every minute of it.)

I started training Brazilian Jiujitsu when I was in high school and continued in it for several years. Looking back, it was the best physical therapy (even social therapy) I could have accidentally stumbled into. I didn't know I was on the spectrum back then. Training did sooooo much to fix my brain. It solidified brain-body connections and smoothed out my motor skills. I learned how to read people through touch in a way that I still can't do visually or by listening to them talk. I don't know if I would have been ready for training as a younger child though. The thing that works about jiujitsu is that it is full contact grappling, and I don't think I would have gotten the same benefit from karate, kung fu, or taekwondo.

We put our son in classes and it was not his cup of tea. I had wanted to forever, but it wasn't his thing. He is now the ONLY boy in a Hip Hop dance class and absolutely loves it. Asks us every single day when dance class is, he doesn't want to be late. Find out HIS interests first. We always knew our son loved music and have put him in both music & dance classes...both of which he has loved and truly done great in. He still doesn't have lots of friends because of it, but it gives him a chance to socialize doing something he loves.

Believe me I know how that is...when we originally put my son is music lessons we tried to figure out what instrument he wanted to play...he barely talked, didn't know yes or no, so we just picked an instrument for him...why? Because we had many instruments in our home and saw how happy he was when we put his favorite music on. We just went with it. Thankfully, the teacher was awesome and although he was teaching him guitar, if my son tried to play another instrument (we had congas, a little piano, etc...) he just went with it too! It takes a lot to try to figure out what they like...observe...observe...expose him to different things...that's what we did...everything from art materials, to going to sports games, to swimming lessons, to listening to music at home or his MP3, etc...until we figured out what he seemed to enjoy the most.