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Exploring Caregiver Perspectives of Social and Motor Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Impact on Participation.

ABSTRACT: Participation is a key aspect of quality of life and is essential for children’s well-being, yet children with disabilities are at risk for lower participation in social activities. For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social skills may present a significant obstacle for participation in activities of daily life; however, motor skill development may also serve an important contributing factor. Nevertheless, the link between social and motor skills in children with ASD is not fully understood. The current research implemented semistructured interviews to garner descriptive insights from caregivers (N = 17) into the social and motor skills of 5- to 9-year-old children with ASD and the impact on participation in social activities. A constant comparative method was used to generate a coherent and thematic representation of caregivers’ experiences. Thematic analysis revealed core consistencies in three areas: (1) caregivers viewed participation differently than their children; (2) participation levels of children with ASD are context specific; (3) challenges with social skills were perceived to present a greater obstacle to participation than motor skills. Overall, the notion that ASD is a heterogeneous disorder was made very apparent. Although caregivers believe there to be immense value in current treatment and intervention options, the availability and access to such options was a major barrier. The effectiveness of intervention programming designed to increase participation is contingent on understanding factors that affect participation. Implications concerning caregivers’ perspectives are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Rios PC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7318841 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectiveMotor impairments are prevalent in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and persistent across age. Our current study was designed to investigate motor deficits in Chinese toddlers with ASD and to explore the relationships between motor deficits and social communication skills.MethodsFor this cross-sectional study, we recruited a total of 210 Chinese toddlers with ASD aged between 18 and 36 months in the study during December 2017 to December 2020. Griffiths Developmental Scales-Chinese (GDS-C), Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition (ADOS-2) and Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile-Infant-Toddler Checklist (CSBS-DP-ITC) were administered in these toddlers to evaluate their development, social communicative skills, and autism severity. We compared the developmental and social communicational profiles of ASD toddlers in different gross and fine motor subgroups, and explored potential associated factors. The univariate generalized linear model tested the relationship of fine and gross motor skills and social communicative skills.ResultsThe prevalence of gross and fine motor deficits were 59.5 and 82.5%, respectively, which are almost equivalent in boys and girls. The motor impairments tended to be more severe with age in toddlers. After adjusting for age, sex, non-verbal development quotient (DQ) and restricted, repetitive behaviors, severer gross motor impairments were significantly related to higher comparison score of ADOS-2 and higher social composite score of CSBS-DP-ITC, without interactions with other variables. Meanwhile, lower fine motor skills were associated with more deficits of social communication and higher severity of ASD, also depending on non-verbal DQ. In the lower non-verbal DQ subgroup, both fine motor deficits and restricted repetitive behaviors (RRBs) might have effects on autism symptomology.ConclusionMotor impairments are common in Chinese toddlers with ASD. Toddlers with weaker gross and fine motor skills have greater deficits in social communicative skills. Gross motor impairment might be an independent predictor of the severity of autism and social communication skills, while the effect of fine motor deficits might be affected by non-verbal DQ and RRBs of toddlers with ASD. We provide further justification for the inclusion of motor impairments in the early intervention for toddlers with ASD.

Project description:Social motivation is a foundational construct with regard to the etiology, neurobiology, and phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Multiple theories suggest that early emerging alterations to social motivation underlie a developmental cascade of social and communication deficits across the lifespan. Despite this significance, methods to measure social motivation vary widely, with little data to date as to how different measures might compare. In this study, we explore three existing caregiver-report measures that have been proposed to quantify social motivation among school-age children with ASD (n = 18; all male) and without ASD (n = 36; 50% female), with the broad goal of characterizing social motivation across measures and specific aims of investigating (a) diagnostic and sex differences in social motivation, (b) correspondence between measures, and (c) relationships between social motivation and broader social outcomes. Across all three measures, individuals with ASD had lower social motivation by caregiver-report. However, they did display individual differences in the degree of social motivation reported. There were no differences in social motivation between males and females without ASD on any of the three measures. For the full sample, measures of social motivation correlated with one another as anticipated, and stronger social motivation was associated with stronger social skills and fewer social difficulties. Our data suggest that social motivation among children with ASD may be best conceptualized as an individual difference that is diminished on average relative to peers but which varies among children and adolescents with ASD, rather than as an absolute absence or uniform deficit. LAY SUMMARY: Several theories suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience less social motivation than their peers without ASD, contributing to difficulties in social skills. Based on multiple caregiver-report questionnaires, social motivation was reduced on average for school-age children with ASD but also varied among children with ASD. Stronger social motivation was related to stronger social skills and fewer social problems. Future work should include more girls with ASD, consider social motivation across age groups, and include first-hand perspectives from people with ASD.

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Exploring Caregiver Perspectives of Social and Motor Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Impact on Participation.

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