Visual-motor abilities in individuals with Asperger syndrome

In the present study, demographic, developmental, and visual-motor performance data previously collected on groups of children with Asperger syndrome (AS), high-functioning autism (HFA), and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) were analyzed. It was hypothesized that children and adolescents with AS would exhibit neuropsychological deficits in the areas of visual-motor integration in general and fine motor ability in particular when compared to a matched comparison group (matched on age, gender, ethnicity, and geographic region) of same-aged peers. Instruments utilized to evaluate visual-motor and fine motor performance included the NEPSY and the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities (WRAVMA).;Participants included child and adolescent volunteers (54 males and 9 females) ranging in age from 8 years, 0 months to 17 years, 9 months, with a mean age of 11 years, 2 months. All participants had a full scale IQ of 85 or above. One-way multivariate analyses of variance were first performed to investigate group differences on measures of visual-motor ability. No statistically significant differences were found for diagnosis (AS, HFA, or PDD-NOS) on any of the measures, and data from all participants were used for subsequent analyses.;Multivariate analysis of variance, Hotelling's Trace tests, independent samples t-tests, and correlations were performed in order to determine how the visual-motor abilities of children and adolescents with AS compared with those of the matched comparison group of neurotypically developing children. Comparisons were also made to published means. The results of these analyses indicated support for the research hypotheses. Individuals with AS performed significantly more poorly on most measures of visual-motor ability when compared to neurotypically developing peers. Additionally, the presence or absence of early gross and fine motor delays (as provided by parent report) did not significantly affect visual-motor outcomes, though individuals reported to have such delays typically scored lower than individuals without. A significant relationship emerged between cognitive processing speed and several of the visual motor measures, suggesting at least some overlap in these individual neuropsychological variables. The implications of these results for the development of effective classroom intervention strategies for use with children and adolescents with AS were discussed.