Autistic Children Use Less Efficient Goal-Directed Whole Body Movements Compared to Neurotypical Development.
Nicholas E Fears, Tylan N Templin, Gabriela M Sherrod and 3 others
PMID 35441912WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children reached the virtual target as often as neurotypical children, but took longer and followed less direct paths.
Movement variability did not differ. This is descriptive motor data, not treatment evidence.
Key findings
01Both groups completed the task successfully on most valid trials, and success did not differ significantly by group.
02On successful trials, autistic children took longer to reach the safe zone than neurotypical children (1.94 s versus 1.70 s).
03Autistic children used less direct paths than neurotypical children (path efficiency scores 1.79 versus 1.42, where lower scores mean better efficiency).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 16 autistic children and 12 neurotypical children were tested, so the findings are preliminary. The study did not test any treatment, so it cannot show that therapy improves these movements. The task was a short virtual reality movement task, not a measure of daily activities, school movement or fatigue. Participants were excluded for many neurological, psychiatric, medication and nonverbal reasoning conditions, so the results do not represent all autistic children. Only 70.98% of possible trials were analysed, and a larger share of autistic trials was excluded, so the comparison may be affected by missing trials.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the longer, less direct movements to recommend a specific therapy. The study tested 16 autistic and 12 neurotypical children in one laboratory task, not a treatment outcome.