Hammering that Nail: Varied Praxis Motor Skills in Younger Autistic Children
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Hammering that Nail: Varied Praxis Motor Skills in Younger Autistic Children Joel Crucitti1 · Christian Hyde1 · Mark A. Stokes1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Previous studies measuring praxis abilities in young autistic children have only used praxis measures that were not optimised for autistic individuals. Hence, we used the FAB-R to measure praxis skills in autistic (n = 38) and typically developing (TD) children (n = 38) aged between four and 10 years. Praxis abilities were generally not different between autistic and TD children. However, total dyspraxia and errors during verbal command and tool use were impaired in autistic children from a specialist autistic school (SAS). In contrast, autistic participants from the GC typically did not differ in praxis performance compared to controls. Hence, praxis abilities significantly vary between autistic younger children. Exploring mediating influences of such variability is imperative. Keywords Autism spectrum disorder · Praxis · Children · Specialist autistic school
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder, characterised into two main domains; deficits in social communication, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour (APA 2013). These diagnostic criteria however do not detail the well documented impairments of motor skills in ASD (Abu-Dahab et al. 2013). Autistic individuals, compared to typically developing (TD) controls, have a variety of poor motor skills (Gowen and Hamilton 2013). Further, some suggest the study of this motor impairment may lead to a further understanding of the neurobiology of ASD (Dowell et al. 2009). For instance, research suggests that abnormal motor cognition affects motor resonance and motor interference mechanisms, which in turn, relates to comprehending social behaviour and movements being a marker of social deficits, respectively (see Casartelli et al. 2016, for a review). As motor abilities are relatively easy to measure and assess, the feasibility of measuring motor skills makes it a favourable outcome to target for early identification of ASD (Dowell et al. 2009). Further, motor deficits have not only distinguished autistic children from controls, * Mark A. Stokes [email protected] 1
School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
but also different sub-types of ASD from another (Rinehart et al. 2001). Skilled motor abilities of the hands and face, such as using a pair of scissors, require a greater degree of motor dexterity than basic motor control (BMC; Mostofsky et al. 2006); defined as timed, repetitive movements of the hands, fingers and feet (Dziuk et al. 2007). These skilled motor gestures are not only a potential deficit in ASD but are poorly imitated by autistic participants compared to controls (Dewey et al. 2007). Consequently, skilled motor gestures during imitation tasks were once suggested to be a core deficit in ASD, and have bee
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