The concept of inclusion of school-based yoga is increasingly considered beneficial for children having various psychosocial benefits in a school environment25. Yoga is a mind-body intervention that applies movement, breathing, and relaxation to nurture holistic well-being in children22. Yoga with different physical poses and breathing techniques integrates the mind and body, bringing a sense of inner harmony and balance (Nagarathan & Nagendra, 2013). The implementation of yoga in schools has shown high potential in enhancing the physical and mental well-being of children. It can improve various social and behavioral factors that are relevant in a school environment, such as classroom behaviors, emotional regulation, social skills, focus, attention, and stress reduction4;16. Yoga in schools for children with different disabilities can contribute to the development of better coping skills, self-regulation, attention, social skills, and communication33;34. For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yoga is considered a therapeutic tool having several beneficial effects on managing various aspects of autism3.

ASD is recognized as the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in India, with an estimated prevalence of around 1.7-2 million children29. Children with ASD exhibit dual-core diagnostic characteristics of lifelong deficits in social communication and interaction and restricted, repetitive behaviors (RRB)2. Children can often find it challenging to adjust to a school environment (Blacher & Baker, 2019). Social skills deficits and problem behaviors can serve as major contributing factors significantly impacting their effective learning in a school environment35. Irrespective of the wide range of academic outcomes observed in children with ASD, many schoolteachers identified that ineffective social communication and problem behaviors most commonly serve as the main barriers to learning in a school environment32. Social skills are generally identified as specific abilities that allow children to respond to social requests appropriately, which fall into a triad of deficits in social interaction and communication, limited social imagination, with rigidity in behavior48. These skills form an essential aspect of a school environment, with such deficits often recognized in children with ASD affecting school performance, peer interaction, and participation in school activities35. The social skills deficits commonly observed in children with ASD include a lack of non-verbal and gestural communication, eye contact, empathy, reciprocal conversation, peer interaction, and different speech patterns, affecting their social responsiveness17. These can also give rise to compensatory problem behaviors recognized as one of the major challenges associated with autism. Such problem behaviors include internalizing and externalizing behaviors such as physical aggression, self-injury, inattention, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and self-stimulatory behaviors like hand flapping, rocking, and spinning27. Social skills deficits and problem behaviors are considered interrelated issues in autism, affecting their functionality and response to their environment41.

Special schools in India are primarily small private schools accommodating children with various disabilities. These schools support the diverse learning requirements of such children across a wide range of functional and academic skills in a safe and focused school environment13. Teaching children with ASD in schools requires specific teaching approaches and several supportive social and behavioral strategies35. Many children attend special schools to receive special education services and functional skills training to address their diverse learning challenges. Special schools provide a congenial and familiar learning environment for children with disabilities13. Most of the issues faced by the teachers of children with ASD in schools include challenges in maintaining reciprocal conversation, peer interaction, social withdrawal, rigidity in response, and various problem behaviors44. A survey of schoolteachers reported that a host of social skills deficits generally seen in children with ASD involved difficulties in social communication, turn-taking, eye contact, and peer interaction that can interfere with their learning abilities in a school environment40. Schoolteachers usually attempt to apply different strategies to mitigate such classroom challenges48. As such, the schools are responsible for implementing various interventions to manage the lack of responsiveness and problem behaviors31. The guidelines followed in a school environment commonly include certain skill areas that need to be a part of the specialized curriculum conducive to children with ASD6. Improvements in social responsiveness and problem behaviors in the school environment benefit children's academic skills and foster peer interaction, confidence, and emotional well-being, positively impacting their engagement in school activities15. It aids teachers in effective classroom management and successfully execute various teaching strategies with increased response and participation from children with ASD35;37. Social skills and behavioral management thus form an essential part of such a skill-developing curriculum and primary requirements for children with ASD within school environments18.

A few studies on yoga have shown holistic benefits in children with ASD, positively impacting their problem behaviors and social skills deficits28;36. Yoga as a mind-body intervention offers therapeutic psychophysiological benefits by regulating the autonomic nervous system and cultivating a feeling of health and well-being (Nagarathna & Nagendra, 2013). Through its various body movements and breathing practices, yoga creates a balance between exertion and relaxation, bringing forth a state of physical, mental, and emotional integration in an individual. Children with ASD often face several autonomic dysfunctions and have difficulties processing information triggering sympathetic responses that cascade into various problem behaviors and social skills deficits. Yoga as a holistic intervention for children with ASD can be a therapeutic process that aids in connecting mind, body, and breath, enabling self-regulation and managing various autistic symptoms to foster a well-balanced and harmonious state21.

Empirical studies have explored the efficacy of yoga for children with ASD in different settings on social skills and problem behaviors in various settings28;39. However, there are few evidence-based studies on school-based yoga for children with ASD in special schools42. Yoga in special schools can be conducted for children with ASD in a group setting, with structured lessons developed in accordance with their needs and learning preferences36. Most yoga studies have used parents’ feedback to investigate the effect of yoga intervention on children with ASD36;42. Very few studies support the assessments of the schoolteachers of children with ASD based on their daily interactions in special school environments. The current study explored implementing a school-based yoga program in special schools for children with ASD with the schoolteachers’ assessments of their social responsiveness and problem behaviors. We, therefore, hypothesized that children with ASD who undergo the yoga intervention would exhibit an improvement in their social responsiveness and problem behaviors than the control group.