The Influence of Motor Skills on the Social Communicative Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communicative skills, repetitive behaviors and/or restricted interests. In addition to the core characteristics of autism motor skill deficits have also been describe and are persistent and pervasive across age. The focus of intervention for children with autism is driven by deficits in the social communicative domain, and for the youngest children with autism early intervention has been indicated as a priority in autism research. Although early intervention and social skills intervention for school-aged children have had some success, the content of invention is being explored. The primary focus of these interventions is social communicative and motor skills have not been included in the discussion. The relationship of deficits in motor skills and deficits in social communicative skills has not been explored. Understanding how motor skill deficits relate to the social communicative skills and calibrated severity of children with autism is important. The focus of this dissertation is on the relationship of motor skills and social communicative skills in young children with autism and school-aged children with autism. Three studies were conducted for this dissertation, two focused on the social communicative skills of young children with autism and one focused on school-aged children with autism. The first two studies found significant relationships between motor skill and social communicative skills. The standard fine and gross motor skills of young children with autism were significant predictors in the calibrated severity of autism. Similarly, the standard fine and gross motor scores of young children with autism were also significant predictors in adaptive behavior composite, daily living skills and adaptive social and communicative behavior. In older children with autism the object-control skills (ball skills) were significant predictors of calibrated autism severity. School-aged children with weaker object-control skills had more severe calibrated autism severity scores. This dissertation is an initial step in recognizing the relationship of motor skills and social communicative skills. Motor skills need to be considered in early intervention and social skills intervention for children with autism.