Relationship between Motor Skill Impairments and Motor Imagery Ability in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Study Using the Hand Rotation Task

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between motor skill impairments and motor imagery ability in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants were 19 children with ASD, aged 7 - 16 years. We conducted two tasks: movement assessment battery for children-2 (MABC-2) and hand rotation task. The MABC-2 is a motor test that can assess total motor ability, and three sub-domain abilities. Hand rotation is a cognitive task that can evaluate motor imagery ability. Results indicated the possibility that severities of motor skill impairments were interrelated with motor imagery ability in children with ASD. First, fine motor control ability was strongly interrelated with the general response speed of the hand rotation task. Second, balance ability was interrelated with the fit and slope coefficients of the hand rotation task. The internal modeling deficit seems to play an important role in children, either with developmental coordination disorder or ASD.