Motor performance, praxis, and social skills in autism spectrum disorder and developmental coordination disorder

Abstract

Previous research has shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may have overlapping social and motor skill impairments. This study compares ASD, DCD, and typically developing (TD) youth on a range of social, praxis and motor skills, and investigates the relationship between these skills in each group. Data were collected on participants aged 8–17 (n = 33 ASD, n = 28 DCD, n = 35 TD). Overall, the clinical groups showed some similar patterns of social and motor impairments but diverged in praxis impairments, cognitive empathy, and Theory of Mind ability. When controlling for both social and motor performance impairments, the ASD group showed significantly lower accuracy on imitation of meaningful gestures and gesture to command, indicating a prominent deficit in these praxis skills in ASD. Lay Summary Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have social and motor skill impairments to varying degrees. This study compares ASD, DCD, and typically developing (TD) youth on a range of social, praxis, and motor skills. ASD and DCD shared similar patterns of gross and fine motor skills, but differed in skills related to making gestures. Specifically, our results also suggest that ASD has a prominent deficit in gesture performance and meaningful imitation compared to TD and DCD groups.

Specific tractography differences in autism compared to developmental coordination disorder

“…Our behavioral results indicate that 80% of the ASD group have motor impairments as measured by the MABC-2, which are consistent with prior data on motor impairment in ASD 38 – 40 . Please refer to recent papers by our group in largely the same sample, which discuss in detail the behavioral differences between these two groups 18 , 41 . Here, we aimed to find the presence of specific white matter diffusivity differences in ASD that do not overlap with other developmental motor deficits, namely DCD.…”

“…In fact, studies suggest that individuals with ASD have substantial overlap in motor impairments with DCD, and qualify for DCD on gold standard DCD assessments, such as the Movement Behavioral Assessment for Children (MABC 12 – 19 ; see for a systematic review 20 ). Nevertheless, ASD and DCD groups may significantly differ on more social motor tasks, such as imitation (ASD with significantly poorer imitation) 18 . Further, white matter studies on DCD groups have also found diffusivity differences in several motor tracts previously implicated in ASD, including the descending tracts, cerebellar tracts, and the splenium of the corpus callosum 21 .…”

Sensory Modulation in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder Compared to Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children

“…It is estimated that DCD affects 5–6% of children and may significantly interfere with activities of daily living and school performance [ 21 , 23 ]. DCD is also a common comorbidity in children with ASD, with approximately 60–90% meeting the criteria for DCD [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. However, 90% of children identified with DCD do not have a co-occurring diagnosis of ASD [ 27 ].…”

“…While in ASD, social impairment is a key diagnostic criterion, recent studies indicate that children with DCD also commonly have social deficits including social anxiety, less peer support, and poor social communication [ 21 , 53 ]. In fact, our prior work showed that about 36% of children with DCD fell into the clinical range of social deficits on the SRS-2 [ 25 ]. Although these social issues are often described as secondary symptomologies, derived from having less social peer interactions by not participating in social activities that require motor skills such as sports teams, instrumental groups, or art classes [ 54 , 55 ], an alternative interpretation is that some social symptoms may be primary in DCD.…”

“… Do children with DCD differ from children with ASD and TD children on social emotional and behavioral measures? Based on our prior data [ 23 , 25 ], we expect children with DCD to fall between ASD and TD groups on social emotional measures, competencies, and empathic skills. We also explore differences in DCD that have previously not been explored in our prior data: anxiety as measured by the SCARED-P and repetitive behaviors.…”