Exploring Social Interactions and Engagement in Children With Autism During Inclusive and Adapted Tennis Sessions: A Pilot Study.

This pilot study explored patterns of social interaction and engagement in children with autism participating in adapted and inclusive tennis sessions alongside their nonautistic peers. Sixteen children with autism were observed through video analysis of 111 sessions led by coaches trained in autism. Engagement and social interaction were coded using a structured observational system to describe variability across participants and game contexts. Overall, children with autism tended to display predominantly positive interactions during the sessions. Although they interacted more frequently with coaches than with peers, their peer-directed interactions were nonetheless generally positive. Distinct interaction and engagement profiles were identified, highlighting inter- and intraindividual variability across sessions. Spearman correlation analyses indicated that nonengagement duration was positively associated with negative social interaction (r = .346, p = .036) and negatively associated with positive social interaction (r = -.512, p = .001). These exploratory findings suggest that adapted and inclusive sports may represent a promising context for promoting social interactions and engagement in children with autism.