L14_asd_motor
Page 1: Motor Functions in ASD
Page 2: Overview of Motor Functions in ASD
Impairments in motor functions are common in ASD but not part of diagnostic criteria.
Motor dysfunction includes both basic and higher-order complex motor skills.
Although motor impairments are not unique to ASD, certain deficits may be more characteristic of this disorder.
Page 3: Significance of Motor Deficits in ASD
Motor impairments can be among the earliest signs of ASD.
Notable delays in behaviors such as rolling over, holding up head, head lag, and reaching/grasping observed as early as 3-6 months.
Motor impairments may relate to social and communication deficits in ASD.
Correlations exist between praxis deficits and social/communication impairments measured by ADOS.
Development of the motor system is closely tied to language development, leading to missed social opportunities.
Later motor coordination issues can exacerbate social difficulties.
Page 4: Common Motor Dysfunction in ASD
Key characteristics include:
Delayed milestones.
Clumsiness, lack of coordination, motor awkwardness (not well studied).
Gait and postural control issues.
Fine and gross motor impairments, including handwriting challenges.
Difficulty with praxis and imitation skills.
Challenges in motor planning for tasks like reach-to-grasp.
Page 5: Walking in ASD
Page 6: Dyspraxia
Defined as the inability to perform tasks in response to verbal commands, despite understanding the command and no sensory or motor deficit.
Includes issues with imitation of actions or gestures.
Disconnect exists between task conception and execution.
Ideomotor Apraxia/Dyspraxia involves failure to plan movement sequences for actions.
Page 7: Dyspraxia in ASD
Difficulties in gesture production, comprehension, and imitation.
Imitation is essential for learning; gestures are important for communication.
Mirror neuron system may play a role in understanding others' actions.
Deficits in visual feedback may lead to visual-motor integration challenges.
Page 8: Goal Directed Actions
Decreased motor planning ability affects the usage of outcomes to inform actions.
Measurement of mylohyoid muscle activity shows different behaviors in ASD compared to typically developing children.
Mylohyoid activity observed in ASD only when items moved towards the mouth.
Page 9: Goal Directed Actions Task
In a reach, grasp, and place task, response times varied for typically developing children based on container size.
Children with ASD exhibited no variation in reach times regardless of final placement container.
Page 10: Impact of Visual Distractors
Typically developing children experienced variability in planning and execution with distractors present.
Children with ASD showed no significant differences in motor planning or execution when distractors were introduced.
This suggests a deficit in the integration of visual information for motor planning in ASD.
Page 11: Summary of Key Impairments
Impairments noted in:
Gesturing, tool use, and imitation.
Motor planning for goal-directed actions.
Delays in achieving motor milestones.
Gait and postural control issues.
Inefficient use of visual information is a common theme across these impairments.
Underlying issue appears to relate to how visual feedback is used to inform the motor system.