Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

This paper provides the findings of an internal study of Waves for Change’s (W4C) surf therapy program, piloted with a group of learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Learners with ASD often present with ongoing social-communication problems that include difficulty communicating and interacting with others, repetitive behaviors as well as limited interests or activities and sensory integration issues. W4C’s surf therapy program has proven that children who complete the 12 months program have increased school engagement, decreased anti-social behavior, as well as increased school performance. Given these and other positive changes the surf therapy program has proved to have on the well-being of participants, W4C conducted research on the pilot ASD surf therapy program, to establish whether the program brought about similar, or different, changes to the children with ASD. Two qualitative data collection methods were used to collect primary data, namely direct observation, and in-depth, unstructured interviewing. Secondary data was collected through the revision of existing literature on surf therapy and differently-abled children. The research found the effects of the program were positive on the participating children, reporting more confidence, improved social interaction, an increase in communication initiation, increased verbal output, an improvement in peer relationships, and less aggressive outbursts. In addition, the immediate effects of the ASD surf therapy pilot program extended to the W4C surf coaches and mentors; including increased confidence to work with differently-abled children, improved non-verbal communication, an increased understanding of and empathy toward disabilities, with a decreased stigmatization toward people with mental illnesses.