Abstract
We investigated infant’s manual motor behaviour; specifically behaviours crossing the body midline. Infants at elevated likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) produced fewer manual behaviours that cross the midline compared to infants with a typical likelihood of developing these disorders; however this effect was limited to 10-month-olds and not apparent at age 5 and 14 months. Although, midline crossing did not predict ASD traits, it was related to ADHD traits at 2 years of age. We rule out motor ability and hand dominance as possible explanations for this pattern of behaviour, positing that these results may be a consequence of multisensory integration abilities, and the neurobehavioural shift period, in the first year of life.
Highlights
Transdiagnostic approaches to neurodevelopmental disorders have gained increasing traction over the last decade (e.g., Livingston and Happé 2017; Rigney et al 2018; Peralta and Cuesta 2017)
We found that total midline crosses performed at 10 months significantly associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) traits on the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) [R2 = 0.21, F(1, 91) = 4.26, p = 0.04, η2p = 0.04], with more contralateral behaviours related to greater ADHD traits
Including the entire EL sample and conducting nonparametric bivariate correlations, we found a significant relationship between total midline crossings and the CBCL ADHD subscale [r(94) = 0.21, p = 0.047] and a trend between total midline crossings and the Quantatitive Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (QChat) [r(94) = 0.16, p = 0.12]
Summary
Transdiagnostic approaches to neurodevelopmental disorders have gained increasing traction over the last decade (e.g., Livingston and Happé 2017; Rigney et al 2018; Peralta and Cuesta 2017).
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