Abstract
Children with autism not only have limited social and communicative skills but also have motor abnormalities, such as poor timing and coordination of balance. Moreover, impaired gross motor skills hamper participation with peers. Balance control is interesting from a cognitive science perspective, since it involves a complex interplay between information processing, motor planning, and timing and sequencing of muscle movements. In this paper, we discuss the background of motor problems in children with autism, focusing on how posture is informed by sensory information processing. We also discuss the neurobiological basis of balance problems, and how this is related to anxiety in this group. We then discuss possible avenues for treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, especially as regards movement-related interventions. Finally, we present a theoretical outlook and discuss whether some of the symptoms in ASD can be understood from an embodied cognition perspective.
Highlights
The control of everyday movements such as reaching, grasping, walking, gaze direction, etc., involves the concerted activity of neurocognitive processes, sensory processes, and reflexes
Even though sub-optimal motor skills are not considered a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), clinicians and researchers are well aware of motor deficits in ASD
We focused on a very basic motor skill that is essential for the development of other gross motor skills, namely the act of upright standing, subserving postural control
Summary
The control of everyday movements such as reaching, grasping, walking, gaze direction, etc., involves the concerted activity of neurocognitive processes, sensory processes, and reflexes. Balance in Autism perturbations necessitate postural adjustments in order to prevent loss of stability This process involves the integration of sensory inputs in order to accurately perceive postural orientation, and executing appropriate motor commands that restore postural equilibrium. A complex interaction between autism, anxiety, balance, and the development of gross motor skills is at stake. Moseley and Pulvermüller (2018) proposed a neurobiologically inspired model of suboptimal action-perception integration in ASD According to these authors, ASD is characterized by a whole range of subtle motor control deficits (including postural instability), which may hamper normal cognitive and social development, for example, because there is less opportunity to explore and interact with the environment (see Morris et al, 2015).
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