Analysis of Motor Functioning In Autistic Spectrum Disorders: A Preliminary Analysis

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Autistic spectrum disorders are characterized by social impairments and communication disorders as well as restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Autism and Asperger’s are two categories of this spectrum. Autism is a condition that evolves in early childhood while Asperger's is most common in children over the age of 3 and predominately in males. Individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome typically demonstrate an inability to interact socially with their peers and they are usually unable to focus on interests they may have. Language development is something that keeps these two disorders separate. In order for a child to be diagnosed, as autistic, he or she must show delayed language development as well as inefficiencies in sociability, empathy, communicative language and cognitive development (Brasic & Pataki, n.d.). On the other hand, children who are not delayed in language development but present poor social skills, poor behavioral issues and motor clumsiness are diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
The journal article that I chose is titled Motor Functioning In Autistic Spectrum Disorders: A Preliminary Analysis. Behere, Dean, Noggle and Shahani (2012) stated that the purpose of their research was to distinguish the motor performances between Asperger and autism while also considering the analytical influence of such assessment. Even though motor functioning is independent of language development, the researchers wanted to use it as a variable to broaden the differences between the disorders.
Initially, the researchers handpicked a sample size of 39 individuals who were sent for a neuropsychological evaluation. After both the neuropsychologist and neurologist evaluated the participants as well as th...

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...t only emerge, but they may be critical information when performing a differential diagnosis. Finger-to-nose coordination data showed the biggest difference between the groups with autism having more impairment. According to the data, the Asperger’s group results where more closely related to the normal population over autism (Behere, Dean, Noggle and Shahani, 2012). The biggest downsides researchers found with this study were the insufficient sample size and the varying age of the partakers. Sample size played a factor in not providing additional findings. If there were a larger sample size, the data could have showed more of a distinction between the two groups. Even though the WD scores were used to control the ages of participants, the researcher suggest that when this study is performed again, they should use a larger group with a greater scale of age matching.

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