Motor skills and young children with autism

The purpose of this study was to compare the fine and gross motor skills of young children with and without autism. Within the Children and Youth with Disabilities Lab, the Movement Intervention for Young Children with Autism project seeks to create effective interventions to improve the fine and gross motor skills of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While current data indicate a marked difference in motor skills between children with ASD and typically developed children, further research can be applied to improve these important skills at a young age, hopefully leading to positive changes in other areas like social interaction. The larger project consists of a randomized control trial exploring the effects of a movement-based early intervention. The purpose of my study was to compare the motor skills of children with and without autism using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2). The PDMS-2 assesses gross motor skills through the Reflexes, Stationary, Locomotion and Object Manipulation subtests and fine motor skills are assessed through Grasping and Visual-Motor Integration subtests. The comparison of these subtest scores using an independent samples t-test demonstrates a significant difference between the children with autism (n = 7) and without autism (n = 9) on the stationary and grasping scales (p < 0.05)