Profiles of sensorimotor development in children with autism and with developmental delay

Aim of the study was (1) to evaluate sensorimotor development of children with autism in comparison with that of children with developmental delay, (2) to verify the possible unevenness of the developmental profiles through correlations amongst domains and between domains and chronological age. 46 children with autism were compared with 45 children with developmental delay. Mean chronological age was 3.7 yr. in children with autism and 3.6 yr. in children with mental retardation. Mean mental age was 1.3 yr. in children with autism and 1.1 yr. in children with developmental delay. Ordinal scales of Uzgiris-Hunt show that the two groups score significantly differently on the scales of Object Permanence, Means-Ends, Operational Causality, and Spatial Relations and that scores were higher for the children with autism. The comparison made between the developmental levels of each group indicate that the sensorimotor profile in children with developmental delay is fairly homogeneous, while it appears uneven in autistic children, for whom Object Permanence appears to be the most advanced skill, Verbal and Gestural Imitation and Schemes for Relating to Objects the lowest. The results are in keeping with the assumption that the pivotal defect of autism is a deficit in social interactive skills.