title: Physical Activity Levels in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder When Playing Active and Sedentary Xbox Kinect Videogames.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We compare physical activity during bouts of sedentary videogaming (SVG), active videogaming (AVG), and paced walking in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to determine the effectiveness of AVG in providing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included nine males (8-11 years old) with ASD and eight age-matched males who were typically developing. Both groups had anthropometric and motor proficiency (Movement Assessment Battery for Children II) measures taken before testing. Participants attended three randomly assigned acquisition sessions: 20 minutes of paced walking at 4.5 metabolic equivalents, AVG, and SVG. Videogaming occurred on an Xbox®Kinect. An Actical accelerometer provided activity counts (AC) and percentage of time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA). These were compared using 3 × 2 repeated measures analysis of variance for each measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Main effects for conditions existed for %MVPA (P < 0.0001) and AC (P < 0.0001). Post hoc Bonferroni comparisons indicated that AVG had significantly higher AC (P < 0.001) and % MVPA (P < 0.001) than SVG, but was significantly lower than paced walking (AC P < 0.001; %MVPA P < 0.01). Overall, participants spent 76.25% of their time in MVPA during AVG compared to 99.4% during paced walking and 2.31% in SVG. No main effects for groups or group by condition interaction effects were found for either measure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AVG may provide an appealing means by which all individuals can increase their overall physical activity levels, although AVG should not be seen as a replacement for walking or other forms of PA. Although further research is necessary, the finding that both groups performed similarly in AVG suggests that games can potentially be played without modifications or adaptations to gaming units, which may provide several advantages in terms of social/cost/ease of accessing unit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware , Newark, Delaware.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware , Newark, Delaware.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Getchell
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000379:methods; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055686:Metabolic Equivalent; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D018910:Video Games / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Active videogames; Autism; Physical activity