Motor Deficits in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder:

A cross-syndrome study 

By Martin McPhillips, Jennifer Finlay, Susanne Bejerot, Mary Hanley
8 September, 2015

Lay Abstract
It is now generally accepted that children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk of having some level of motor difficulty. There is still an ongoing debate with regard to what particular areas of motor functioning are most affected, and how this may be related to specific areas of brain functioning. Communication difficulties are also a defining feature of ASD, and it is known that children with specific language impairment (SLI) are at risk of motor difficulties as well. The present study examined the similarities between the motor difficulties experienced by children with ASD and children with SLI using a range of fine and gross motor tests. The results showed that the motor skills of the children with ASD, and SLI, were significantly lower than typically developing controls, but that both groups of children had very similar levels of motor skills across all of the motor tests, with one exception. The children with ASD found a fine motor task, which involved threading a lace using both hands at the same time, particularly difficult. The findings of the present study show that children with ASD have significant motor difficulties which are largely similar in expression to those of children with SLI. (Emphasis added)