Abstract
Objective: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience significant challenges with their motor coordination. It is not, however, well understood how motor coordination may impact the behavioral functioning of children with ASD. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between motor coordination and adaptive behavior in 7–12-year-old children with ASD.Methods: Motor coordination was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition (MABC-2) and adaptive behavior was assessed by parental report using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 2nd Edition (VABS-2) as part of a larger cross-sectional study. Descriptive characteristics were calculated for MABC-2 and VABS-2 scores and Spearman’s rank order correlation analyses were used to examine the relationship between motor coordination and adaptive behavior.Results: On average, the participants (n = 26) exhibited significant challenges in regard to their motor coordination with all but two participants classified as having significant motor impairments by scoring at or below the 16th percentile on the MABC-2. Results from the correlation analyses indicated that manual dexterity was positively related to daily living skills (ρ = 0.58, p < 0.003), and overall motor coordination was positively related to daily living skills (ρ = 0.60, p < 0.003) and overall adaptive behavior (ρ = 0.57, p < 0.003). In all instances, better motor coordination was related to more adaptive behaviors.Conclusion: These results highlight the profound motor coordination challenges that children with ASD experience and also suggest that these challenges, particularly with manual dexterity, are related to the daily behavior of children with ASD. The interrelatedness of motor and adaptive behavior suggests the need to further explore the impact of motor-based interventions for this population, as well as conduct longitudinal studies to disentangle these relationships.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by challenges in communication, social skills, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
One area of development that is often ignored when intervening on the adaptive behavior of school-aged children with ASD is their motor coordination
Results from the correlation analyses (Table 3) indicate that the manual dexterity domain of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) was significantly correlated with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-2 (VABS-2) daily living skill domain
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by challenges in communication, social skills, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Adaptive behavior is a common term used to describe and classify the degree to which an individual performs daily activities for social and personal sufficiency and for school-aged children this can include tasks such as household chores, completing school projects, and getting along with peers (Sparrow et al, 2005). Children with ASD are most commonly described as having adaptive behavior profiles with relative strengths in daily living skills, but with weaknesses in socialization and communication (Kanne et al, 2011). Motor delays are present early on for toddlers with ASD and this delay may become more pronounced with age (Lloyd et al, 2013) These motor delays are not limited to infants and toddlers, but persist through childhood into adulthood (Ozonoff et al, 2008; Fournier et al, 2010; Bhat et al, 2011). The most recent metaanalysis of 51 studies showed that individuals with ASD had significantly poorer motor coordination across a range of domains (e.g., balance, posture, gait, reaction time, aiming) when compared to typically developing peers (Fournier et al, 2010)
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