They found moderately high correlations between overall gross motor and social skills and between the core stability motor subtest and overall social skills. In the study, 1 Holloway and her colleagues assessed motor skills and social function with validated tools in 21 children (all boys) with ASD. She is assistant professor in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of South Florida’s Health Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, and has served on interdisciplinary evaluation teams in autism diagnostic clinics at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development in Washington, DC, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Sparks Clinics. Holloway, PT, DPT, led a study 1 earlier this year examining the relationship between gross motor skills and social function in young boys with ASD. Some experts believe that deficits in motor skills may play a role in some of the challenges with social skills in children with ASD. “With poor postural control and motor skills, it can be difficult to develop visual attention and spatial awareness, as well as confidence in social settings,” explains Megan Smith, CO, director of clinical research and orthotist for Surestep in South Bend, Indiana. Early intervention is essential to prevent impairments in skill-related fitness from affecting participation in physical activity.” Social connection “Detecting atypical motor disturbances at a younger age can enable early implementation of effective interventions and consequently improve outcomes. “Motor activity abnormalities may be present prior to two years of age in individuals who are later diagnosed with autism,” 13 said Rinehart. “Primary school-aged children with ASD may experience significant difficulties planning, monitoring, regulating, and controlling movement,” she said.īecause pronounced motor impairments are widespread in individuals with ASD, she added, they should be considered a core symptom and a target for early diagnosis and treatment. It is now understood that motor skills issues in children with ASD are not an isolated problem, Rinehart said, noting they can affect many areas of functioning and impact everyday life. 12 Data from early life through adulthood also show a relationship among ASD severity, motor impairment, and postural instability. 12 This may manifest as problems with sitting and standing, and a more pronounced postural sway. 11 A reduction in step and stride length and increased step width are among the most consistently identified spatiotemporal gait anomalies identified from these studies.”Ītypical development and delays in postural control around the head and trunk have also been consistently reported in the ASD literature, from infancy to adulthood. “Gait studies 10 have informed us that wide, cerebellar-ataxic type gait patterns can be seen in both adults and children with ASD.
“Early on in my career I was struck by the unusual gait that my patients with autism and Asperger’s demonstrated, and how this appeared to differentiate these children from children with other neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, so this began my long-standing research interest 9 in this field,” she said. Nicole Rinehart, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Deakin Child Study Centre at Deakin University, in Burwood, Victoria, Canada, has for the last few decades worked clinically with children with neurodevelopmental disorders. 4-9 Despite the frequency of these issues-two investigations, for example, have reported prevalence rates of poor motor skills in children with ASD of 59% 6 and 79% 7-motor impairments are not part of the disorder’s diagnostic criteria. 1-3Ĭompared with healthy controls, children with ASD have higher rates of motor skill impairments, including deficits in coordination during gross and fine motor activities, balance skills, gait patterns, postural stability, joint flexibility, and movement speed. Less attention has been paid to gross motor skills and motor strategy deficits, which also have an impact on social skills and functioning, according to recent research. Research among children with ASD has traditionally focused on impairments in social skills, the condition’s core deficit. Early intervention to address motor deficits may improve physical skills and the difficulties with social functioning that are the hallmark of the disorder. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often described as “uncoordinated” or “clumsy” and many have clear motor control impairments.
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