Sensorimotor Features and Daily Living Skills in Autistic Children With and Without ADHD.
Emily C Skaletski, Kelly Barry, Elizabeth Dennis and 8 others
PMID 38443659WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children with ADHD showed lower movement skills and more often sought sensory input or had strong reactions to it.
Daily living skills were better explained by each child's autism and ADHD features than by ADHD group status.
Key findings
01Autistic children with ADHD had lower motor proficiency scores and higher overall sensory feature scores than autistic children without ADHD.
02Both autism features and ADHD features predicted more sensory seeking and stronger reactions to sensory input, while only autism features predicted lower motor proficiency.
03Daily living skills were better explained by each child's autism and ADHD feature levels than by whether they were in the ADHD group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study compared children at one time, so it cannot show whether ADHD features caused motor, sensory, or daily living differences. The sample included only four children with IQ below 60, so findings may not apply across the full range of intellectual ability. The age range was 6.14 to 10.99 years, so findings may not apply to younger or older children. ADHD status came from caregiver report only, not teacher report, so classroom behavior was not measured. There was no ADHD-only comparison group, so the study cannot separate autism-related differences from ADHD-related differences. Daily living skills were measured with two different Vineland versions, which may not be fully comparable. Motor scores were total scores and did not separate fine and gross motor skills.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ADHD causes lower movement skills or worse daily living. This was a cross-sectional comparison, and the ADHD group was defined by caregiver-reported scores rather than teacher-reported classroom behavior.