The Relationship of Motor Skills & Social Skills in Young Children with Autism

Background:  

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social communication skills and repetitive or stereotyped behaviors. In the youngest children with ASD, delays in the attainment of infant motor milestones are frequently reported.  In addition to these early delays, many children with ASD also demonstrate deficits in gait patterns, postural control, and in the performance of gross and fine motor skills.  Although these motor deficits have been documented in very young children with ASD, greater focus and developmental awareness has been placed on social communicative skills, including the necessity of improving social communicative skills through early intervention. However, very little effort has been made to understand how the delays in motor skills impact later movement performance, which may impact socially relevant activities or opportunities.  Although the relationship between the motor and social domains has recently been acknowledged, there is a very limited understanding of how these domains interact, especially in young children with ASD.

Objectives:  

The objective of this study is to better understand the relationship between social skills and motor skills in young children with ASD using standardized assessments.

Methods:  

10 young children with ASD were recruited for this study as a part of an early intervention project. All participants in this study were children between the ages of 2- 5 years with a confirmatory diagnosis of ASD or pervasive developmental disorder- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) as indicated by standardized algorithms established from the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule (ADOS).  All participants were also administered the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2^nd ed., the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 2^nd ed.  A linear regression model used motor skills to examine the relationship to social skills, based on standardized assessments.

Results: Significant relationships were found between motor skills and social skills while controlling for age and non-verbal problem solving (as based on the visual receptive organization subscale of the Mullen, a scale within the Mullen Scales of Early Learning).  Findings indicated that locomotor skills were predictive of social skills (p < 0.05) and relationship trends were evident between object manipulative skills and social skills and object manipulative skills and calibrated autism severity.

Conclusions:  

The results of this study show there are important relationships between the motor skills and social communicative skills in young children with ASD.  Early intervention is a priority for young children with autism in practice and research.  This study is not meant to negate the importance of social communicative early intervention for young children with autism.  However, it appears that the motor development of young children with autism needs to be considered a priority as well.