The Role of Sensorimotor Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Conditions.

Penelope Hannant,Teresa Tavassoli,Sarah Cassidy

doi:10.3389/fneur.2016.00124

Abstract

In addition to difficulties in social communication, current diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum conditions (ASC) also incorporate sensorimotor difficulties, repetitive motor movements, and atypical reactivity to sensory input (1). This paper explores whether sensorimotor difficulties are associated with the development and maintenance of symptoms in ASC. First, studies have shown difficulties coordinating sensory input into planning and executing movement effectively in ASC. Second, studies have shown associations between sensory reactivity and motor coordination with core ASC symptoms, suggesting these areas each strongly influence the development of social and communication skills. Third, studies have begun to demonstrate that sensorimotor difficulties in ASC could account for reduced social attention early in development, with a cascading effect on later social, communicative and emotional development. These results suggest that sensorimotor difficulties not only contribute to non-social difficulties such as narrow circumscribed interests, but also to the development of social behaviors such as effectively coordinating eye contact with speech and gesture, interpreting others’ behavior, and responding appropriately. Further research is needed to explore the link between sensory and motor difficulties in ASC and their contribution to the development and maintenance of ASC.

Highlights

Successful social functioning requires multiple skills, such as quickly seeking out and integrating information from pertinent social cues in order to plan and carry out an appropriate response
Progress may have been hampered by lack of research into the non-social difficulties seen in autism spectrum conditions (ASC); repetitive behaviors, narrow circumscribed interests, and sensory difficulties. More recent research, such as that by Gowen and Hamilton [5], has started to explore the contribution of sensorimotor difficulties to the development and maintenance of ASC
Deficiencies in sensorimotor integration would present as difficulties in effectively utilizing sensory feedback to correct movements, resulting in coordination difficulties and sensory reactivity abnormalities comparable to those seen in ASC [100, 105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112]

Summary

Introduction

Successful social functioning requires multiple skills, such as quickly seeking out and integrating information from pertinent social cues in order to plan and carry out an appropriate response. More recent research, such as that by Gowen and Hamilton [5], has started to explore the contribution of sensorimotor difficulties (defined as an impairment in the pathway involving motor activity triggered by sensory stimuli) to the development and maintenance of ASC.

Results

Conclusion