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Atypical Movement Performance and Sensory Integration in Asperger’s Syndrome

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to investigate whether individuals with AS have impaired motor abilities and sensorimotor processing and whether these impairments were age-related. Sensorimotor abilities were examined using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2, and the Sensory Integration Praxis Test. Fifty boys with AS aged 7–14 years old were compared with typically developing boys. Overall, children with AS showed significant impairment of movement performance as well as proprioceptive and vestibular processing. There were no interaction effects of age and clinical group on level of performance deficit in any of the modalities tested. Increasing our understanding of motor and sensory impairment in AS could have treatment implications for those supporting individuals with AS.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the children, their parents and their teachers who participated in the study, to the U.K. National Autistic Society and to the UK Sensory Integration Network. We would like to thank for supporting this research project the Greek Scholarships Foundation and the UK Health Foundation. Also we would like gratefully to acknowledge Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Dr. Lorna Wing & Dr. Judith Gould for their support and advice on this research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Panagiotis Siaperas, Howard A. Ring, Catherine J. McAllister, Peter Watson & Anthony J. Holland

  2. Institute of Education – University of London, London, UK

    Sheila Henderson

  3. Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Anna Barnett

Authors
  1. Panagiotis Siaperas
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  2. Howard A. Ring
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  3. Catherine J. McAllister
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  4. Sheila Henderson
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  5. Anna Barnett
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  6. Peter Watson
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  7. Anthony J. Holland
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Correspondence to Panagiotis Siaperas.

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Siaperas, P., Ring, H.A., McAllister, C.J. et al. Atypical Movement Performance and Sensory Integration in Asperger’s Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 718–725 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1301-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1301-2

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