Characterising the Early Presentation of Motor Difficulties in Autistic Children

Reynolds, Jess E.; Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.; Alvares, Gail A.; Waddington, Hannah; Macaskill, Ella; Licari, Melissa K.

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05333-w

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The complex interrelationships between IQ, language, sensory, and motor differences in autism are evident in the dual task literature where the level of performance difference is affected by task complexity 8,34,35 . It is also evident in some studies relating motor skills with IQ, language, and sensory skills.…”

Section: Complex Interrelatedness Between Motor Skills and Other Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These motor differences persist in a variety of domains across the lifespan. A recent systematic review demonstrated that infants later diagnosed with autism exhibit significant motor differences, 7 including delays in achieving motor milestones, 8 and fine and gross motor problems in infants at an elevated likelihood of being autistic between 6 months and 36 months 1,9 . Studies have demonstrated the persistence of these differences beyond childhood into adulthood, for example, in the domains of static and dynamic balance 10,11 and locomotion 12 .…”

Section: Motor Problems In Autismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Motor problems in autism: Co‐occurrence or feature?

Miller

Licari

Bhat

et al. 2023

Develop Med Child Neuro

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Motor features of autism have long been acknowledged by clinicians, researchers, and community stakeholders. Current DSM‐5 and ICD‐11 guidelines allow clinicians to assign a co‐occurring diagnosis of developmental [motor] coordination disorder (DCD) for autistic individuals with significant motor problems. DCD is characterized by poor motor proficiency with an onset of symptoms in early development. Studies have shown considerable overlap in the behavioral motor features observed in autism and DCD. However, others indicate that motor problems in autism and DCD may stem from different underlying sensorimotor mechanisms. Regardless of whether autism has a unique motor phenotype or an overlap with DCD, changes need to be made in the clinical pipeline to address motor problems in autism at the stages of recognition, assessment, diagnosis, and intervention. Consensus is needed to address unmet needs in research on the etiology of motor problems in autism and their overlap with DCD, to optimize clinical practice guidelines. The development of screening and assessment tools for motor problems that are valid and reliable for use with autistic individuals is essential, and an evidence‐based clinical pipeline for motor problems in autism is urgently needed.

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Section: Complex Interrelatedness Between Motor Skills and Other Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Motor Problems In Autismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motor problems in autism: Co‐occurrence or feature?

Miller

Licari

Bhat

et al. 2023

Develop Med Child Neuro

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“…In line with this developmental cascades framework, recent work has documented differences in motor skills (1,6,(15)(16)(17) and object exploration behaviors (18)(19)(20). However, many of these studies focus on mid-to late-infancy (6+ months), and more work is needed to understand emerging differences in the first months of life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Case report: An evaluation of early motor skills in an infant later diagnosed with autism

Malachowski,

Huntley,

Needham

2023

Front. Psychiatry

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Researchers and clinicians are increasingly interested in understanding the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and identifying behaviors that can provide opportunities for earlier detection and therefore earlier onset of intervention activities. One promising avenue of research lies in the early development of motor skills. The present study compares the motor and object exploration behaviors of an infant later diagnosed with ASD (T.I.) with the same skills in a control infant (C.I.). There were notable difference in fine motor skills by just 3 months of age, one of the earliest fine motor differences reported in the literature. In line with previous findings, T.I. and C.I. demonstrated different patterns of visual attention as early as 2.5 months of age. At later visits to the lab, T.I. engaged in unique problem-solving behaviors not demonstrated by the experimenter (i.e., emulation). Overall, findings suggest that infants later diagnosed with ASD may show differences in fine motor skills and visual attention to objects from the first months of life.

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confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have reported atypical spontaneous movements early in infancy (e.g., Einspieler et al, 2014), delays in early motor milestones (e.g., Bolton et al, 2012;Reynolds et al, 2021), and fine and gross motor difficulties in infants at elevated likelihood for autism between 6 and 36 months (e.g., Iverson et al, 2019;Landa et al, 2013;Licari et al, 2021a). In addition to Bhat's evidence utilizing the DCD-Q (Bhat, 2020(Bhat, , 2021, studies of autistic children have also demonstrated high prevalence rates of motor impairment utilizing both broader measures of adaptive functioning (e.g., Licari et al, 2019;Reynolds et al, 2021) and gold-standard objective assessments of motor proficiency (e.g., Dewey et al, 2007;Green et al, 2009). While Bishop and colleagues suggest that motor delays and impairments may be better explained by "autistic behaviors," "lack of interest," "lack of motivation," "social demands" or "intellectual impairments," we argue that observations of motor impairments emerging early in life, persisting throughout childhood, and measured across different methods and assessments, demonstrates otherwise.…”

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confidence: 99%