Motor Signature Differences Between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder, and Their Neural Mechanisms.
Christiana Butera, Jonathan Delafield-Butt, Szu-Ching Lu and 6 others
PMID 38062243WHAT IT FOUND
A tablet coloring game and computer model sorted children into the right group 71%, 76% and 78% of the time in two-group comparisons, but standard motor tests and video coding did not tell autism from coordination disorder.
Key findings
01Machine learning separated ASD from DCD with 71% accuracy, ASD from TD with 76%, and DCD from TD with 78%; the three-group classification reached 57% accuracy, reported as 73% above chance.
02Standard motor and praxis tests, and video coding of gameplay, did not separate ASD from DCD, though both clinical groups differed from TD on motor and praxis measures.
03During imitation, DCD showed reduced cerebellar activation compared with TD and ASD; during execution, gesture area variance correlated negatively with cerebellar crus activation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The participant counts are reported inconsistently: one analysis section says 19 TD, 16 ASD and 15 DCD, while the results section says 18 ASD, 16 DCD and 20 TD. The sample was small, with 50 participants analysed, and the authors said the machine learning results should be tested for replication in larger cohorts. The machine learning validation was described as experimental because of the small sample size. The study excluded left-handed participants, people born before 36 weeks, and people with IQ below 80 unless verbal or perceptual reasoning IQ was above 80. Eight ASD participants and four DCD participants were taking previously prescribed psychotropic medication at data collection. The authors called for more diverse groups, including more females and a wider range of IQ. No autistic people or community stakeholders were involved in developing the research question, design, measures, implementation, or interpretation.
Declared interests
The study was supported by NIH grant R01MH118177 and European Union Horizon 2020 grant 685987. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the tablet game as a diagnostic tool. The 71%, 76%, and 78% group identification results came from 50 participants in an experimental machine learning analysis, and the authors called for replication in larger cohorts.