Multidimensional motor performance in children with autism mostly remains stable with age and predicts social communication delay, language delay, functional delay, and repetitive behavior severity after accounting for intellectual disability or cognitive delay: A SPARK dataset analysis.
Anjana Bhat
PMID 36533674WHAT IT FOUND
Motor difficulties in children with autism remain stable from age 5 to 15.
Poor motor performance predicts social, language, and functional delays even after accounting for intellectual disability. Therapists should screen for motor issues beyond early childhood and not assume delays resolve with age.
Key findings
01Motor performance scores indicate significant difficulties that do not improve substantially by age 15, with normalized scores for the 50th percentile remaining between 1.67 and 2.67.
02Gross motor skills were more predictive of social communication delay, while fine motor and general motor competence skills were more predictive of repetitive behavior severity and language delay.
03Motor performance predicted functional delay even after controlling for age, sex, and intellectual disability, with fine motor and gross motor skills both contributing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relies entirely on parent-reported questionnaires (DCD-Q, SCQ, RBS-R), which are subject to reporting bias and lack the precision of standardized clinical assessments. The measure of cognitive delay was based on parent report of intellectual disability or relative delay compared to peers, rather than a standardized IQ test. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality; it shows that motor performance predicts delays, but not that improving motor skills will improve social or language outcomes. The study did not include a control group of children with other developmental disabilities (e.g., DCD or ADHD alone), so it is unclear if these motor profiles are unique to autism.
Declared interests
The author reports no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institute of Health (Extramural).
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the predictive relationships as evidence that motor interventions will directly improve social communication or language outcomes. This is an observational study showing associations, not a randomized trial testing treatment effects.