New Insights Into Autism

Psychology Today, November 11 2009, 1 page

Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills: New Insights into Autism

As we already know autism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood. Autism first appears during infancy or childhood, and symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, and become established by age two or three years and continue through adulthood.

New research distinguishes the link between handwriting problems and autism. There was a new study, published in the November 10th issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, and talks about fine motor control and the problems that lead up to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It states that children with ASD have difficulty forming letters.

The studies preformed by researchers were to compare handwriting samples, motor skills, and visuospatial abilities of children with ASD to developing children. The researchers discovered that; the handwriting of children with ASD was terrible than developing children. Children with ASD had trouble forming letters; however, in different categories, such as size, alignment, and spacing, their handwriting was easily comparable to the developing children. The researchers also found that motor ability, specifically for timed movements, was a strong predictor of handwriting performance in children with ASD.

Amy Bastian, who conducted this study, explains that identifying fine motor deficiency in handwriting provides important information about ASD. By finding this deficiency it can provide other examples of motor skill problems that may help for other deficits with socialization and communication. Therefore, occupational therapists and teachers can take this information from this study and...