Enhanced motor noise in an autism subtype with poor motor skills.

The study did not test treatment, so it cannot say that any therapy will reduce motor noise or improve motor skills. The MABC2 was evaluated for developmental coordination disorder, not autism, so its motor subtype findings in autism need further evaluation. The kinematic analysis used only one reach-and-drop task, so the movement variability finding may not apply to walking, jumping, pointing, clapping, or other motor actions. The intellectual ability comparison used only composite IQ scores, so it did not examine specific cognitive profiles that might differ between subtypes. No genetic or electrophysiological data were available, so the paper cannot test the proposed link between motor noise and excitatory/inhibitory imbalance. The authors say a larger sample may be needed to make stronger generalizations across the autism spectrum. For the kinematic analysis, 24 autistic and 14 typically developing children were excluded because they did not complete all 10 trials or changed hands, which may limit how the result applies to children who did not complete the task.

Do not conclude that this identifies a treatable motor noise problem or that any therapy will reduce it. The study describes a subtype with lower motor skills and more variable repeated movements, but it did not test an intervention.