Preliminary study looks at young autistic adult gait issues

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ASPartOfMe
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14 Nov 2017, 2:42 am

Autism-Related Movement Problems Persist until Adulthood

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Young adults with autism have an unusual gait and problems with fine motor skills. Researchers presented the unpublished findings today at the 2017 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Motor problems such as clumsiness, toe-walking and altered gait are well documented in autism. But most studies have been limited to children or have included adults only as part of a broad age range.

“Studies haven’t focused on just adults,” says Cortney Armitano, a graduate student in Steven Morrison’s lab at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, who presented the work.

The researchers looked at 20 young adults with autism between the ages of about 17 and 25, and 20 controls of about the same age range. They put these participants through a battery of standard tests of fine motor skills, balance and walking.
When it comes to simple tasks—such as tapping a finger rapidly against a hard surface or standing still without swaying—those with autism perform just as well as controls do.

But with activities that require more back-and-forth between the brain and the rest of the body, differences emerge.
Adults with autism have slower reaction times compared with controls, measured by how fast they can click a computer mouse in response to seeing a button light up. They also have a weaker grip.

Looking at a wide range of motor skills simultaneously enabled the researchers to draw broader conclusions. Because tasks involving both the upper and lower limbs are affected, the results suggest slower overall processing of motor information rather than difficulty with a specific task.

The findings are consistent with studies of motor skills in children with autism.


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firemonkey
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14 Nov 2017, 5:12 am

My wife used to comment on my gait/the way I walk. I have a tendency to veer from side to side as though a little drunk. Have never had good balance and coordination.



jonny23
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14 Nov 2017, 7:27 am

People in high school used to tell me I walked funny. My wife mentioned it when we first met. I don't know if people are to polite to mention it these days or if it's less noticeable now. I never did figure out what they meant.

As for grip I am the opposite. I've always been super strong for no reason.