1Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
Autism. 2014 Apr;18(3):281-91. doi: 10.1177/1362361312470037. Epub 2013 Oct 7.
Recently, evidence of poor or atypical motor skills in autism spectrum disorder has led some to argue that motor impairment is a core feature of the condition. The current study uses a longitudinal prospective design to assess the development of motor skills of 20 children at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, who were recruited and tested at 9 and 40 months of age, on the basis of having an older sibling diagnosed with the condition. All children completed a range of motor, face processing, IQ and diagnostic assessments at a follow-up visit (aged 5-7 years), providing a detailed profile of development in this group from a number of standardised, parental report and experimental measures. A higher proportion of children than expected demonstrated motor difficulties at the follow-up visit and those highlighted by parental report as having poor motor skills as infants and toddlers were also more likely to have lower face processing scores and elevated autism-related social symptoms at 5-7 years, despite having similar IQ levels. These data lend support to the argument that early motor difficulties may be a risk factor for later motor impairment as well as differences in social communication and cognition, traits that are related to autism spectrum disorder.
最近，自闭症谱系障碍中运动技能不良或异常的证据导致一些人认为运动障碍是该病症的核心特征。本研究采用纵向前瞻性设计，对 20 名自闭症谱系障碍高风险儿童的运动技能发展进行评估，这些儿童在 9 个月和 40 个月时根据其患有该病症的哥哥或姐姐而被招募和测试。所有儿童在随访时（5-7 岁）完成了一系列运动、面部处理、智商和诊断评估，从多项标准化、父母报告和实验测量中为该组提供了详细的发展概况。随访时，比预期有更多的儿童表现出运动困难，并且那些在婴儿和幼儿时期被父母报告为运动技能较差的儿童，在 5-7 岁时也更有可能出现较低的面部处理分数和较高的自闭症相关社交症状，尽管他们的智商水平相似。这些数据支持这样一种观点，即早期运动困难可能是日后运动障碍以及社交沟通和认知差异的风险因素，这些特征与自闭症谱系障碍有关。
