The severity and nature of motor impairment in Asperger's syndrome : A comparison with Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function

• Background:The aims of this study were to measure objectively the extent and severity of motor impairment in children with Asperger's syndrome and to determine whether the motor difficulties experienced by such children differed in any way from those classified as having a Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function (SDD-MF). Criteria derived from ICD 10-R were used to identify 11 children with Asperger's syndrome and a matched group of 9 children with a Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function. Children in both groups were required to have a verbal IQ of 80 or greater on the WISC IIIR.Method:The Autism Diagnostic Interview (Revised; Lord, Rutter, & LeCouteur, 1994) was used to identify features of AS in the first group and to exclude them in the latter. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) provided a standardised test of motor impairment. A Gesture Test based on that by Cermak, Coster, and Drake (1980) was used to assess the child's ability to mime the use of familiar tools and to imitate meaningless sequences of movements.Results:All the children with Asperger's syndrome turned out to meet our criterion for a diagnosis of motor impairment, five of the six most severely motor impaired children in the whole study being from this group. Performance of the Asperger group was also slightly poorer on the Gesture Test. The profile of performance on each test was examined in detail but no evidence of group differences in the pattern of impairment was found.Conclusions:This study is consistent with others suggesting a high prevalence of clumsiness in Asperger's syndrome. Our findings also attest to the widespread prevalence of motor impairment in developmental disorders and the problems such co-morbidity poses for attempts to posit discrete and functionally coherent impairments underlying distinct syndromes.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Psykiatri (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Psychiatry (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Asperger's syndrome

Classification

Developmental coordination disorder

Gesture

Motor coordination

Specific developmental disorder of motor function

article

Asperger syndrome

body movement

child

clinical article

clinical feature

comorbidity

controlled study

developmental disorder

disease severity

health care personnel

human

intelligence quotient

male

motor dysfunction

motor performance

neuropsychological test

occupational therapist

pediatrician

physiotherapist

prevalence

psychologist

school

school child

scoring system

verbal communication

comparative study

differential diagnosis

female

intelligence test

personality test

psychological aspect

psychomotor disorder

Developmental Disabilities

Diagnosis

Differential

Gestures

Humans

Intelligence Tests

Neuropsychological Tests

Personality Assessment

Psychomotor Disorders

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)