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Preliminary Evidence That Motor Planning Is Slower and More Difficult for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Breanna E Studenka1, Kodey Myers1,2
1Utah State University.
Motor Control
|August 2, 2019
Summary
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show motor planning differences when helping others. They plan actions sequentially, especially with tools, but their overall movement times do not change.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Control
Background:
- Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display difficulties in social interaction and motor skills.
- Impaired motor planning may contribute to challenges in cooperative motor actions observed in ASD.
- Understanding the nuances of motor response selection and preparation is crucial for interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate motor planning differences in children with ASD during a cooperative helping task.
- To examine how object properties (hammer vs. stick) influence motor planning in children with ASD.
- To determine if motor planning strategies change with increased helping behavior in ASD.
Main Methods:
- A cooperative motor planning task involving reaching, lifting, and handing objects (hammer, stick) to a researcher.
- Measurement of response time, movement time, and grasp time in five children with ASD and five typically developing children.
- Comparative analysis of motor planning strategies based on object type and helping engagement.
Main Results:
- Children with ASD exhibited longer grasp times when helping, suggesting sequential action planning rather than holistic planning.
- The hammer object led to quicker responses compared to the stick, indicating tool affordances facilitate planning.
- Increased helping in children with ASD was not associated with significant changes in response, movement, or grasp times.
Conclusions:
- Children with ASD employ distinct motor planning strategies, favoring sequential processing during cooperative tasks.
- Tools with inherent action properties can aid motor planning in children with ASD.
- Despite planning differences, overall motor execution timing remains consistent in children with ASD during helping actions.
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