A Comparative Evaluation of Gait between Children with Autism and Typically Developing Matched Controls

Abstract

Anecdotal reports suggest children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ambulate differently than peers with typical development (TD). Little empirical evidence supports these reports. Children with ASD exhibit delayed motor skills, and it is important to determine whether or not motor movement deficits exist during walking. The purpose of the study was to perform a comprehensive lower-extremity gait analysis between children (aged 5–12 years) with ASD and age- and gender-matched-samples with TD. Gait parameters were normalized to 101 data points and the gait cycle was divided into seven sub-phases. The Model Statistic procedure was used to test for statistical significance between matched-pairs throughout the entire gait cycle for each parameter. When collapsed across all participants, children with ASD exhibited large numbers of significant differences (p < 0.05) throughout the gait cycle in hip, knee, and ankle joint positions as well as vertical and anterior/posterior ground reaction forces. Children with ASD exhibited unique differences throughout the gait cycle, which supports current literature on the heterogeneity of the disorder. The present work supports recent findings that motor movement differences may be a core symptom of ASD. Thus, individuals may benefit from therapeutic movement interventions that follow precision medicine guidelines by accounting for individual characteristics, given the unique movement differences observed.

Gait Pattern and Motor Performance During Discrete Gait Perturbation in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…Although we do not consider it appropriate to apply corrections to multiple comparisons because this study was exploratory, these results require replication on a larger scale to verify the generalizability of the novel findings we documented. Last, in the context of precision medicine, new statistical methods for personalized behavioral and kinematic analyses have been recently developed, with particular reference to gait analysis (Torres et al, 2016a,b; Dufek et al, 2017). Along this line, future extension of this study could benefit from this individualized analytical method in order to precisely identify individual differences between children with ASD and controls.…”

INTRApersonal Synchrony as Constituent of INTERpersonal Synchrony and Its Relevance for Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Children with ASD exhibited significantly faster movements with peculiar pressure patterns. Other studies further highlight jerky limb movements (Cook et al, 2013), atypical gait (Barrow et al, 2011;Kindregan et al, 2015;Dufek et al, 2017;Eggleston et al, 2017), enhanced postural sway (Gowen and Miall, 2005;Doumas et al, 2016) and enhanced variability in motor output (Brincker and Torres, 2013;Gowen and Hamilton, 2013;Parma and de Marchena, 2015;Kaur et al, 2018). A meta-analysis by Fournier et al (2010) included 41 studies on motor coordination, motor impairment, arm movement, gait, or postural stability.…”

Relationships Between Gross Motor Skills and Social Function in Young Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…1 While the most prominent features of ASD relate to impairments in social communication and interaction, evidence suggests that children with ASD also have a variety of motor impairments that cannot be explained by neurocognitive deficits alone. 2 Motor skill deficits commonly observed in children with ASD include, fine and gross motor delays; 2–4 gait abnormalities such as differences in joint angles and ground reaction forces; 5 postural instability due to possible difficulties using sensory information; 6 and coordination difficulties with motor planning and execution. 7 Because the etiology and mechanism of ASD are not fully understood, the role that motor skill deficits play in this disorder is unknown.…”