Shared Features or Co-occurrence? Evaluating Symptoms of Developmental Coordination Disorder in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Haylie L Miller, Gabriela M Sherrod, Joyce E Mauk and 3 others
PMID 33387238WHAT IT FOUND
Most children with autism in this study showed motor difficulties severe enough to meet the criteria for Developmental Coordination Disorder.
Their performance on standardized movement tests was no different from children diagnosed with DCD. This suggests motor issues are common in autism and may be overlooked if clinicians only look for social or communication deficits.
Key findings
0195% of the children with autism scored below the 5th percentile on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, placing them in the 'Red Zone' where DCD is likely.
02There was no significant difference between the autism group and the DCD group in how they were classified by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children or parent-reported coordination difficulties.
03Over 92% of the children with autism had parent-reported motor difficulties that interfered with daily living activities, meeting the functional impact criterion for a DCD diagnosis.
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 was retrospective, using data collected for other purposes, which may have biased the sample toward children with known motor problems. The sample size was small (61 total), and the groups were not precisely age-matched. The diagnosis of DCD was based on DSM-5 criteria applied retrospectively, not on a prospective clinical diagnosis made by a specialist for that purpose. Data on early motor milestones was based on parent report, which can be inaccurate.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that every child with autism has DCD. This study shows a high prevalence of motor symptoms meeting diagnostic criteria in this specific sample, but it does not prove that the underlying causes are the same for both groups. It also does not confirm that these children received a formal clinical diagnosis of DCD.