a researcher at the university of missouri recently created fitness picture books that help youth with autism exercise more frequently while offering lowincome families this outcome of the study is a simple resource for workout motivation when outdoor fitness equipment might not be accessiblethere is so much research geared toward helping individuals with autism improve their academic performance social skills and communication skills but we also need to remember how important physical activity is for living a healthy lifestyle said lorraine becerra an assistant teaching professor at the mu college of educationthere are numerous health benefits of exercise such as pumping blood in your body better sleep and reduced risk of obesity also if we can get kids with autism more physically engaged they are more likely to run around and play with their peers so there are other aspects of their life we can improve as well added becerrabecerra is also a behavior analyst at the thompson center for autism and neurodevelopmental disorders since some of her former clients with autism had body mass indexes that had risen to unhealthy levels due to excessive sedentary behavior their caregivers asked becerra to develop creative ways to encourage their children to exercise moreso in a recent research study becerra created fitness picture books that contained stepbystep images of various exercises such as jumping jacks bear crawls and lunges the picture books were successfully utilized to increase the amount of time the individuals with autism engaged in physical activityhaving previously worked in lowincome school districts with limited financial resources becerra understands the need to find costefficient methods to help kids with autism exercise more frequentlyits important to remember that some schools might not have a jungle gym or many ageappropriate resources for kids to play with becerra saidthe great thing about the picture books is they provide simple engaging exercises that can be done in a wide variety of settings like a school playground backyard or even an empty field at a park it is also a quick and easy way for caregivers or teachers to provide organized structure during flexible free time such as during recesswith recent advancements in technology and entertainment youth are increasingly spending more of their time sitting in front of televisions tablets and personal electronic devices becerra is passionate about reminding youth particularly individuals on the autism spectrum about the importance of scheduling time for physical activitythese lifelong habits start when you are young becerra saidmaking time to run around and establish those exercise routines early in life will help youth maintain those habits in their adolescent and adult years