Bäckström Anna, Johansson Anna-Maria, Rudolfsson Thomas, Rönnqvist Louise, von Hofsten Claes, Rosander Kerstin, Domellöf Erik
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden.
Department of Health, Education and Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.
Autism. 2025 Jan 6;29(6):13623613241311333. doi: 10.1177/13623613241311333.
Many children with autism struggle with movement difficulties, yet the causes of these difficulties remain unclear. One possible explanation is atypical motor planning and integration of visual and motoric information. Before performing a goal-directed movement, the brain creates a prediction of the movement based on visual and sensory information and previous experience, forming a "blueprint" of the motor steps needed to achieve the goal. This process is called motor planning. During movement, adjustments to the plan can be made through feedback mechanisms. This longitudinal study aimed to examine the development of motor planning in children with autism and typically developing children over early school-age (7-9 years). The children performed a sequential manual peg-rotation task, which involved grasping, rotating, and placing a peg, while detailed measures of movement were collected. Task end-goal difficulty varied, and the goal was either initially occluded or fully visible. The results revealed that children with autism showed atypical motor planning development compared with typically developing peers, and these differences became more pronounced as the children grew older. As the typically developing children matured, they appeared to rely more on initial visual information, which assisted them in motor planning. However, this facilitation did not occur for children with autism. These findings suggest that the differences in motor planning seen in children with autism may be linked to atypical visuomotor integration, highlighting the need for individualized interventions. Furthermore, it is crucial to consider developmental aspects to fully understand motor planning in children with autism.
许多自闭症儿童存在运动困难，但其成因尚不清楚。一种可能的解释是视觉和运动信息的非典型运动规划与整合。在执行目标导向运动之前，大脑会根据视觉和感官信息以及以往经验对运动进行预测，形成实现目标所需运动步骤的“蓝图”。这个过程称为运动规划。在运动过程中，可以通过反馈机制对计划进行调整。这项纵向研究旨在考察自闭症儿童和正常发育儿童在学龄早期（7至9岁）运动规划的发展情况。孩子们执行了一项连续的手动插栓旋转任务，该任务包括抓取、旋转和放置插栓，同时收集了详细的运动测量数据。任务的最终目标难度各不相同，目标最初要么被遮挡，要么完全可见。结果显示，与正常发育的同龄人相比，自闭症儿童的运动规划发展存在非典型情况，而且随着年龄增长，这些差异变得更加明显。随着正常发育的儿童逐渐成熟，他们似乎更多地依赖初始视觉信息，这有助于他们进行运动规划。然而，自闭症儿童并没有出现这种促进作用。这些发现表明，自闭症儿童运动规划方面的差异可能与非典型的视觉运动整合有关，凸显了个性化干预的必要性。此外，考虑发育因素对于全面理解自闭症儿童的运动规划至关重要。
