What benefits does practicing judo have for children with ASD?
This sport reinforces their autonomy and their social relationships
BarcelonaEvery Wednesday, Emma Osorio practices judo at the Municipal Sports Center Olímpics on Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron, in Barcelona. She has been doing so for three years, accompanied by 17 other boys and girls between 12 and 19 years old who, like her, have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These are adapted sessions, led by judo instructors and volunteers, in which the young people practice everything from the typical greetings and stances of this sport to pair and group dynamics, including strength training and other aerobic exercises.
Esther, Emma’s mother, recalls how, at first, what convinced her to get her daughter started in this sport “was seeing videos of previous editions where all the participants were having a lot of fun”. After a short time, she was also able to dispel the mistaken idea she had of this sport: “I thought judo was only about reproducing certain stances, but they spend the session running, jumping, etc.” The sessions also serve to strengthen the social relationships of these children, one of the major handicaps the group encounters in their daily lives. “These are children who usually have difficulties in social relationships, and having a structured environment helps a lot to work on this type of relationship,” Esther highlights.
The logistic deployment
Another difficulty that families with children with ASD have to deal with is the lack of adapted extracurricular activities. Therefore, when they find a proposal like the Judo Intellectual Disability Project, parents go to great lengths to ensure their sons and daughters can benefit from it. In Emma's case, this means that part of the family logistics is handled by one of her great-aunts, who is responsible for taking her to judo every Wednesday. The logistical overload also fades when Emma's parents see their daughter enjoying herself in each of the sessions, where the young girl's motivation and discipline become apparent. "Emma celebrates each of the belts she achieves – she currently has the yellow one – and this satisfaction helps her to strive to do things well," highlights Esther.
During the judo sessions, the camaraderie among the children is also evident, especially on holidays like Christmas or La Castanyada, among others, or in competitions like the one Emma and six other tatami mates competed in last summer in Italy, moments that, as Esther emphasizes, "serve to increase cohesion and the sense of belonging to the group." Aleix Gimeno, 13 years old, has been one of the latest to join the group. He debuted last September and now, seven months later, "he eagerly awaits Wednesday's session," his parents, Eva and Albert, agree.
Progressive adaptation and integration
Eva and Albert immediately saw the convenience of their son, diagnosed with ASD and an intellectual disability, enrolling in judo. “Firstly, because these children have boundless energy and it's good for them to do sports, and secondly, because judo is a team and contact sport, in which they move a lot and do strength exercises,” they point out. Albert was the one who accompanied the young man to the first session, having explained to him a few days earlier that they would try a new activity, and he remembers how, despite not refusing contact, on that first day Aleix sat in a corner of the room, waiting. A week later, the boy arrived at the activity as if he had been going for his whole life: he took off his backpack and shoes, put on his kimono, and today, after a few days, he greets everyone upon arrival and knows the names of his teammates and instructors. “It seems as if he had been going for his whole life,” notes the father, who also highlights how, practically from the first day, after the session ended, his son changed clothes in the locker rooms with the help of the instructors. “Aleix has gained a lot in autonomy, so the experience is a ten,” the parents point out.
Both Esther, Eva, and Albert are clear that one of the keys to the success of these judo sessions for children with ASD and intellectual disability lies in the role of the instructors, most of whom are volunteers. “They are the ones who help create a safe environment and a relationship of trust with our children so that they feel comfortable,” they affirm. An instructor team that includes the presence of José Morales, a professor in physical activity and sports sciences at Ramon Llull University and lead researcher of the Research Group in Health, Physical Activity and Sport of the Barcelona Research Institute in Health, Sport and Society (Re-Sport), who is also promoting the Judo Intellectual Disability Project.
Key moments of the trajectory
The Judo Intellectual Disability Project, which in its first phase was called AutJudo, emerged thanks to the funding that Morales, along with his partners from Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands, secured in 2019 from the European Union through Erasmus+ Sports grants, which specifically support adapted sports. This discipline is something Morales experienced firsthand on a trip to the University of Florida in 2017 and tried with children with ASD whom he brought together thanks to the Autisme Barcelona association and some special education schools. Two years later, with the European Union subsidy in hand, AutJudo began its journey and overcame moments of uncertainty, such as the arrival of the COVID pandemic, a period during which the activity could be maintained thanks to its therapeutic and rehabilitative aspects.
During that initial phase, in 2021, AutJudo also received an award from a Korean institute affiliated with Unesco. An award that recognized the multiple benefits that a discipline like judo offers neurodivergent children, including sensory stimulation, strength training, increased flexibility and body self-control, or cooperation with peers. Benefits that, it should be noted, at the current stage of the project, have been extended to the adolescent phase. Because, as Morales highlights, when adolescence arrives, "young people prioritize other interests over sports." "And if we manage to keep them motivated to attend judo sessions, that's already a big step," he assures. This motivation is a result of both the spaces that the Barcelona City Council and the Lowis Judo Club provide to the group, as well as the instructors leading the sessions, "without whom - Morales concludes - we would never have come this far."
In addition to taking care of their students' sports practice, the promoters of the Judo Intellectual Disability project also provide their families with an application to improve young people's eating habits. Week after week, they propose a series of challenges to taste new healthy foods or to incorporate them into their shopping cart on a regular basis, which they must prove through a photograph. These are small individual milestones that also impact the group and later become a topic of conversation and debate during the Wednesday judo sessions. In Emma Osorio's case, it served for her to recently verbalize “that breaded shrimp were not healthy because they were battered,” points out Esther, her mother, and also for the young woman to get involved in the family's weekly shopping.