Objective measurement of head movement differences in children with and without autism spectrum disorder.
Katherine B Martin, Zakia Hammal, Gang Ren and 6 others
PMID 29492241WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism turned and tilted their heads more quickly and widely than peers without autism, but only while watching social videos.
This suggests head movement differences are tied to social processing, not general motor control.
Key findings
01Children with ASD exhibited greater head turning (yaw) and faster head tilting (roll) than children without ASD.
02These head movement differences were specific to the social stimulus video and were not seen during the nonsocial screensaver.
03When controlling for chronological age, the difference in head turning speed (yaw velocity) disappeared, but differences in head turning amount (yaw displacement) and head tilting speed (roll velocity) remained.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (n=42), requiring replication. The automated tracking software could not track extreme head movements or self-occlusion, resulting in about 17% missing data. Children with ASD tended to have more frequent but shorter segments of trackable movement, though this difference was not statistically significant. The study did not measure postural adjustments or muscle tension, so it cannot account for coupling between head, neck, and torso movements.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The study was supported by N.I.H. grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these head movement differences as a general motor control deficit. The study found that children with ASD moved their heads differently only when watching social videos, not when watching nonsocial screensavers. This suggests the movement is tied to social processing or regulation, not a lack of motor ability.