In a previous post, we described the connection between fine motor skills and social communication abilities in children. For a reminder:
🟡 As is well known, difficulty in social communication is one of the core characteristics of autism.
✅Research has found that toddlers on the autism spectrum, aged 12 to 36 months, scored significantly lower on motor skills compared to typically developing toddlers. These gaps in both gross and fine motor skills became more pronounced with every six-month increase in chronological age.
🟡 This gap in fine motor skills persists and may even widen with age.
A recent study on preadolescents and adolescents (ages 8–17) examined the relationship between fine motor skills and verbal communication in autism.
✅ The findings showed that up to 80% of autistic participants exhibited impairments in at least one fine motor skill measure, with significantly lower fine motor performance compared to their typically developing peers.
Difficulties were observed in finger tapping speed in the dominant hand, bilateral fine motor dexterity, pencil motor coordination, and visual-motor integration.
🟡 Fine motor impairments in autistic individuals may be linked to and influence various verbal language abilities.
✅ For example, a recent study found that deficits in fine motor skills were associated with poorer performance on standardized verbal ability measures, including pronunciation, expressive and receptive language comprehension, vocabulary, and rapid naming.
📝 The key takeaway:
When conducting a developmental assessment for a child, whether or not there is suspicion of autism, it is crucial to perform a comprehensive evaluation of all developmental domains. Many skills influence one another, and identifying and addressing these areas can lead to significant developmental breakthroughs and progress for children.
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