Aktywność ruchowa osób z rzadkimi zaburzeniami rozwojowymi. Autyzm, zespoły Retta i Aspergera

The paper discusses cases documenting impact of motion in medical therapy in a wide sense of the word, as presented in the selected bibliography. The authors concentrate on therapeutic treatment of people with rare developmental impairments, such as Rett and Asperger Syndromes and autism. The first example presents an enormous physical effort made by a person with Rett Syndrome and results of such an effort, i.e. independent gait after 3 years of therapy. During this period the girl in question performed over 56,000 repetitive exercises; thanks to these she was also able to grip steps of a ladder and pronounce words “mummy” and “daddy”. The second example presents a boy with deep kinetic disorder who could not speak, stood motionless when placed in vertical position, could not walk, could not turn around and was unable to get up from a chair. Between 1991 and 1997 he carried out over 89,000 repetitive exercises thanks to which he can move on his own and pedal an exercise bicycle. The authors also discuss the impact of motion on motor skills of people with Asperger Syndrome, testing skills like locomotion, dexterity, jumping, throwing and balance. The results improved after three months of motion therapy. Similar results were recorded in a case of a person with autism while testing static balance. After completion of the round of exercises, swaying of the centre of gravity decreased. The authors suggest the need for carrying out interdisciplinary research so as to expand the knowledge of mechanisms of motion impact on people with rare developmental impairments.