Author(s): HUANG, C., LU, T., HUNG, C., CHEN, W., TSAI, C., PAN, C., Institution: NATIONAL SUN YAT-SEN UNIVERSITY, Country: TAIWAN, Abstract-ID: 800

Introduction
This study examined the impacts of yoga intervention on the executive functions (EFs) of children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Methods
Twenty children with ASD and 20 typically developing (TD) children, aged 6–12 years, participated in the study. Within each diagnostic group, participants were randomly assigned to either the exercise group (EG) or the control group (CG). Accordingly, 10 children with ASD and 10 TD children were assigned to the exercise groups (ASD-EG and TD-EG) and received an 80-min yoga intervention twice weekly for 12 weeks, whereas the remaining 10 children with ASD and 10 TD children were assigned to the control groups (ASD-CG and TD-CG) and did not receive any yoga training. All participants completed the Stroop Color and Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), and Spatial Working Memory (SWM) tasks before and after the intervention. Statistical analyses were conducted using two-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA; Disability x Intervention), with baseline EF measures entered as covariates. The level of significance was set at p < .05.

Results
TD participants initially demonstrated better EFs than those with ASD. A two-way ANCOVA (Disability x Intervention), with baseline EF measures entered as covariates, revealed that after the intervention the ASD-EG performed significantly better than the ASD-CG on the SOC task (i.e., problems solved in minimum moves: p = .037) and the WCST (i.e., total correct: p = .001; conceptual level responses: p = .003; categories completed: p = .042). Furthermore, after controlling for baseline EF measures, no significant differences were found between the ASD-EG and TD-EG on any EF variables at posttest. The ASD-CG, however, demonstrated significantly poorer WCST performance than the TD-CG at posttest, including total correct (p = .024), perseverative responses (p = .029), perseverative errors (p = .020), conceptual level responses (p = .007), and categories completed (p = .012), after controlling for baseline measures.

Discussion
Collectively, these findings suggest that although children with ASD initially exhibited poorer executive functioning than their TD peers, the intervention was effective in enhancing EF performance in the ASD group to a level comparable to that of TD participants. ASD participants who did not receive the intervention, however, continued to show significant EF disadvantages relative to TD controls, indicating that the observed improvements were not attributable to natural maturation alone. Taken together, these results indicate that the intervention represents an effective approach for enhancing executive functioning in children with ASD, with effects extending beyond within-group improvement to the reduction of EF disparities relative to TD peers.

Acknowledgments
Supported by Taiwan MOST grants 106-2410-H-017-022-MY3 & NSTC grants 112-2410-H-017-029-MY2.