Motor Skills in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY ABOUT MOTOR SKILLS IN ADULTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER?

Previous research indicates that specific motor skill deficits such as dyspraxia have been described in children and adolescents with ASD along with other symptoms such as difficulties with social skills, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. There is little research on the symptoms of adults with ASD.

One recent study compared the motor skills of 82 adults without ASD and with ASD (without intellectual impairment). Each individual was filmed by a 3D infrared camera to complete a motion analysis. In addition, the researchers investigated the association between specific motor skills and the severity of autism symptoms using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 2 and Autism Spectrum Quotient.

The results indicated the following for adults with ASD in this study:

• a greater mediolateral deviation while walking
• greater sway during normal, tandem and single leg stance
• reduced walking speed and cadence
• greater arrhythmicity during jumping jacks
• impaired manual dexterity during finger-tapping tasks.

With regards to the association between motor skills and autism symptoms, some motor features showed small to moderate correlation with the severity of autistic symptoms.

CONCLUSION ON MOTOR SKILLS IN ADULTS WITH AUTISM

This research helps develop a clearer picture of motor skills and adults with ASD without intellectual impairment. The specific differences were related to movement timing, postural control and possibly manual dexterity. The motion 3D-video analysis was a helpful measurement tool for a simple and quantitative assessment of multiple motor functions in patients with ASD with potential for use in research and clinical context.

REFERENCE

Cho, A. et al. (2022). Motor signature of autism spectrum disorder in adults without intellectual impairment. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-11.