Early gross motor skills predict the subsequent development of language in children with autism spectrum disorder. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: Motor milestones such as the onset of walking are important developmental markers, not only for later motor skills but also for more widespread social-cognitive development. The aim of the current study was to test whether gross motor abilities, specifically the onset of walking, predicted the subsequent rate of language development in a large cohort of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: We ran growth curve models for expressive and receptive language measured at 2, 3, 5 and 9 years in 209 autistic children. Measures of gross motor, visual reception and autism symptoms were collected at the 2 year visit. In Model 1, walking onset was included as a predictor of the slope of language development. Model 2 included a measure of non-verbal IQ and autism symptom severity as covariates. The final model, Model 3, additionally covaried for gross motor ability. RESULTS: In the first model, parent-reported age of walking onset significantly predicted the subsequent rate of language development although the relationship became non-significant when gross motor skill, non-verbal ability and autism severity scores were included (Models 2 & 3). Gross motor score, however, did remain a significant predictor of both expressive and receptive language development. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the model results provide some evidence that early motor abilities in young children with ASD can have longitudinal cross-domain influences, potentially contributing, in part, to the linguistic difficulties that characterise ASD. Autism Res 2016, 9: 993-1001. © 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research.

publication date

  • December 22, 2015

Research

keywords

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Language Development Disorders
  • Mobility Limitation
  • Motor Skills Disorders

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC5031219

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84952656226

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/aur.1587

PubMed ID

  • 26692550

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 9

issue

  • 9