WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Some Connecticut families battle their child's autism with karate.

Weller Simmons has been taking karate classes at Villari's Studios in West Hartford since December. The 6-year-old's classes involve one-on-one training with his karate teacher.

Noreen Simmons said her autistic son, Weller, was brought to Villari's Studios to attend a birthday party of a classmate.

"We were kind of surprised to how well he seemed to like the karate," said Noreen Simmons, who said her son has problems communicating. "He likes to be around other kids but he really just doesn't know how to start talking to [them]."

Both Weller's mother and his karate teacher said they have seen improvements since he first started.

"He wouldn't even walk in here the first class. Now he'll come in and he'll do a whole class. He'll pay attention for a full half hour," said Karen Presing, of Villari's Studios.

Robert Simpson started taking karate a decade ago, not long after being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, one of the milder forms of autism, Eyewitness News has learned.

"He was very shy…very withdrawn," said Maurice Simpson, Robert's father. "Within months it started to help. He had more eye contact with people."

Dr. Ann Milanese, autism expert at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said she can see how a very few of those with mild forms of autism might benefit from karate. Body awareness, emerging imitation ability and the feeling of self-effectiveness are some of the benefits Milanese noted.

However, Milanese said in the majority of autism cases, karate may not be the right choice.

"One of the fundamental difficulties that children with autism have is difficulty relating to other people and imitating other people," said Malinese. "If the karate class is built upon noticing what other people are doing and imitating it, a child with more serious or classic autism would have real difficulty doing that."

The autism expert said that not every activity can prove effective for autistic children. "We need to make sure that the activity is desirable and fun for the child. And if it is, I would say great, go with it. Give it a try," said Malinese.

More From Dr. Ann Milanese

The following is information about childhood autism from Dr. Ann Milanese, the director of Developmental Pediatrics at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.

"Autism is a disorder that has characteristics. So, it's important to remember that children are children first, and they have symptoms of autism second. And, we refer to it as a spectrum because although you need a certain number of these characteristics to have enough to be called 'autistic' or on the autism spectrum, that there's a good deal of variability in the way the symptoms express themselves. ... Some of the children are much more functional than others and some need much more help than others.

"The autistic child does things and experiences things differently than other children and the areas that they have the most difficulty in are communication skills, social interaction, and then, the third category is behaviors. And, for young children, that includes their play behaviors and their interests and things like that. So, children who are more severely affected with symptoms of autism will have serious difficulties relating to other people, imitating, interacting with other people and they'll also have serious difficulties communicating either using words or communicating non-verbally by using their bodies, like eye contact and pointing and gesturing.

"The thing that I think is most important for putting children into structured activities is that they should be fun, (but) I think that if an activity pulls upon a child's area of weakness, it won't be fun and they will possibly then resort to behavioral strategies to avoid participating. So, we need to make sure the activity is desirable and fun for the child. And if it is, i would say, 'Great, go with it ... give it a try,' and see where it leads you. To force a child into it thinking that it might help in these skill areas would be, ... I would predict that it would be, associated with failure. ... You want it to be fun, you want it to be positively motivating, self-esteem building. It could possibly contribute to body awareness and a feeling of self-efficacy. It might enhance physical coordination. Certainly, exercise is good for everybody. There's actually some literature that suggests that putting ... autistic children through intense gross motor activity -- really work up a sweat -- helps them to get organized and pay attention in activities later in the day.

"I think some of the sensory activities are very comforting and very stabilizing to many kids with autism, so those would be activities like swimming. There's a large number of kids who are doing therapeutic horseback riding, activities like that. The activities give 'to' the children rather than demanding 'from' the children."

More Information

• Villari's Martial Arts Centers
• Autism Speaks
• Connecticut Children's Medical Center Autism Program
• Autism Society of Connecticut