Two-legged hopping in autism spectrum disorders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomechanics
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Sensory processing deficits are prevalent in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), impacting multimodal integration.
• Gross motor skills and auditory-motor synchronization may reveal underlying sensorimotor challenges in ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the ability of individuals with expressive language impaired autism spectrum disorder (ELI-ASD) to synchronize their hopping cadence to auditory cues.
• To explore the potential of a multimodal gross motor task as a quantitative tool for assessing motor performance in individuals with ASD.

Main Methods:

• Six individuals with ELI-ASD and an age-matched control group performed two-legged hopping in sync with auditory cues (2.3, 3.0 Hz).
• Vertical ground reaction forces were collected to determine dominant hopping cadence using discrete Fourier transforms.
• Effective leg stiffness was calculated using a mass-spring model.

Main Results:

• The ELI-ASD group showed significant difficulty matching their hopping cadence to auditory cues, especially at 3.0 Hz.
• Control participants successfully synchronized their hopping cadence to both auditory cues by adjusting leg stiffness.
• The ELI-ASD group exhibited greater variability in hopping cadence compared to the control group.

Conclusions:

• Individuals with ELI-ASD demonstrated impaired auditory-motor synchronization during a hopping task, suggesting sensorimotor integration challenges.
• A multimodal gross motor task, like synchronized hopping, can effectively differentiate motor performance in individuals with severe autism.
• This task shows promise as a quantitative method for evaluating motor function in individuals with ASD.