Exploration of motor abilities in adults with autism spectrum disorders: developing a test of imitation that is not confounded by motor abilities

Abstract

An investigation of motor abilities using the Movement Assessment Battery (MABC-2) for Children showed that a sample of 10 adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders are more impaired on gross whole-body type movements compared to a control sample of 20 typically developing adults. However, the MABC-2 and the clinical kinematic assessment tool found no reliable difference between the two groups on fine motor dexterity. An imitation task was devised requiring participants to imitate movements from videos shown on screen. Participants were required to imitate shapes (a) drawn by a model and (b) drawn by a moving dot in. A 2 x 2 between subjects MANOVA was employed to determine if the correlation of the path length, time and speed of the shape produced by each participant with those produced by the model differed across group or condition.

Another 2 x 2 between subjects MANOVA was used to explore if the constant or variable error of path length, time, or speed of participants differed across condition or group. There were no significant main or interaction effects.