Research on badminton teaching and learning for autistic children

• In Event: Voices, Agency, and Inclusion: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning Across Contexts

Proposal

Badminton has always been one of the most popular sports in China, with enthusiasts of various skill levels striving to improve their abilities, and badminton players winning numerous world championships. The highly competitive nature of the sport promotes the continuous development of advanced techniques, tactics, and effective training methods. However, the field of badminton education for children, especially autistic children, remains underdeveloped.
Children typically play badminton on standard adult courts, facing overly high nets and expansive courts, and use adult-style training methods that are far beyond their capabilities. These factors make badminton even more inaccessible for autistic children, who could benefit significantly from playing badminton (Akin et al., 2017). It can help them with object control, shuttlecock focus, as well as attention, reaction, perception, and coordination. Besides these physical benefits, playing badminton can also address the psychological needs of autistic children by encouraging communication among peers and helping them develop social skills. This indicates their need for learning badminton to enhance social interaction and alleviate motor impairments.
This research aims to establish effective badminton teaching and training methods for children aged 3 to 6 years old, develop courses tailored to autistic children, and design specialized badminton equipment to facilitate learning. The research adopted methods of literature review, surveys, observation, case analysis, and experiments, and achieved three main results.
First, this research developed a framework for the development of badminton techniques and motor skills for autistic children and designed a comprehensive introductory badminton course. This specialized course is based on children’s innate cognitive abilities and includes hundreds of appropriate body movements and training exercises that progressively build physical motor skills from top to bottom. The logic, methods, and exercises are entirely distinct from traditional badminton training programs for youth.
The badminton teaching guide for autistic children emphasizes “equal importance of mental and physical development.” Through unique training methods and a progressive approach, it prioritizes the cultivation of interest over skill improvement, replaces drill-based instruction with a game-oriented mode, and promotes learning through collaboration and teamwork besides competition. While fostering basic motor skills, this introductory course also supports the development of thinking and language abilities, focusing on holistic physical and mental development. Through enjoyable exercises, children can learn badminton effortlessly and with ease.
The research developed hundreds of exercises and activities designed to help children unconsciously explore and learn badminton while having fun, with the goal of instilling a lifelong healthy habit. For example, the designed eye-hand coordination exercises help autistic children better understand the movement of the shuttlecock and its relationship to their body. This gradually builds their core capacity for eye-hand coordination, laying the foundation for them to use a racket to strike the shuttlecock. Additionally, these exercises focus on eye contact and require sustained attention to moving objects, which benefit individuals with attention deficits commonly seen in autistic children.
Second, this research formulated easy-to-understand, practical rules and competition methods for autistic children. This includes understanding concepts like scoring, winning, and losing, emphasizing awareness of boundaries, and creating varied game formats to encourage collaboration and teamwork. These methods help children gradually internalize the concept of rules and foster communication among them in an immersive environment.
Third, aiming to make the badminton learning process more accessible to children, this study developed specialized courts and equipment suited to learners’ physical conditions, athletic abilities, and psychological needs. Playing on customized courts and using appropriately sized rackets, children can move more freely and return the shuttlecock confidently in rallies, thus gradually improving both their physical and psychological well-being.
These research findings are significant in helping autistic children begin learning badminton, offering an effective improvement over current inappropriate training methods and equipment. By incorporating the mode, technical, and tactical requirements of badminton, this research creates a scientifically tailored and child-friendly course, based on learners’ physical characteristics, psychological traits, motor abilities, and cognitive capacities. These original research results fill a gap in early childhood badminton education and could be applied more broadly by reducing the difficulty for youth beginners.
As the research results show, badminton training can effectively alleviate symptoms of autism by improving attention and focus. The designed courses are essential to meet the needs of autistic children. Playing badminton, which relies on eye contact and body movements, has positive effects on children’s physical traits, such as height and muscle strength. Beyond physical fitness, the research offers cutting-edge, practical training methods that enhance social skills. Collaboration with a partner is essential when playing doubles, helping children develop communication abilities. Moreover, unique exercises and competition methods foster parent-child interactions, allowing families to explore and experience the joy of badminton together.
In today’s rapidly changing world, as people face increasing uncertainty and potential conflicts, it is vital to maintain not only peaceful and harmonious external environments, but also internal peace through learning and self-fulfillment. Education plays a crucial role in fostering peace and equality by inspiring individuals of all ages and backgrounds globally. Physical education, as an essential component of education, benefits both physical and mental health. The research findings provide educators, coaches, and policymakers with actionable guidelines, effective methods, and practical equipment to implement and promote badminton programs for autistic children, based on the nature of the sport and the core capacities required. Taking into account the foundational principles of education for peace and equality, this forward-thinking research offers multifaceted insights and innovative outcomes to make badminton learning more accessible, which can be widely applied in different geopolitical contexts to promote human well-being.

Authors

• Qianzi Zhang

• Jie Xiao