Abstract
Early identification of autism facilitates referral for early intervention services, shown to be effective in enhancing parent-child interaction as well as adaptive behavior, communication, and socialization. Traditional hallmarks for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include deficits in social communication and social interaction as well as stereotypic or repetitive behavioral patterns. Research during the past decade suggests that developmental motor delays during early childhood may also be important predictors of this difficult-to-make diagnosis. The purpose of this short communication is to describe specific research findings about developmental motor delays and other neuromotor concerns that may contribute to the early diagnosis of ASD and thus hasten referral for early therapeutic intervention.
Conclusion: In that there is reasonable consensus that motor delays during the first year of life may represent a prodrome of ASD, pediatricians should not rule out the possibility of ASD in infants with concerning motor behaviors.
What is Known: • Early identification of autism facilitates referral for early intervention services. • Traditional hallmarks for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include deficits in social communication and social interaction as well as repetitive patterns of behavior. |
What is New: • Recent research suggests that developmental motor delays during early childhood may also be important predictors of ASD. • Pediatricians should consider the possibility of ASD in infants with motor delays or other concerning motor behaviors. |
Abbreviations
- AIMS:
-
Alberta Infant Motor Scale
- ASD:
-
Autism spectrum disorder
- DSM-5:
-
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition
References
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, VA
Arabameri E, Sotoodeh MS (2015) Early developmental delay in children with autism: a study from a developing country. Infant Beh Dev 39:118–123
Bhat AN, Galloway JC, Landa RJ (2012) Relationship between early motor delay and later communication delay in infants at risk for autism. Infant Behav Dev 35(4):838–846. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.07.019
Hatakenaka Y, Kotani H, Yasumitsu-Lovell K, Suzuki K, Fernell E, Gillberg C (2016) Infant motor delay and early symptomatic syndromes eliciting neurodevelopmental clinical examinations in Japan. Pediatr Neurol 54:55–63. doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.09.008
Heathcock JC, Tanner K, Robson D, Young R, Lane AE (2015) Retrospective analysis of motor development in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder. Am J Occup Ther 69(5):6905185070. doi:10.5014/ajot.2015.017525
Lai MC, Lombardo MV, Baron-Cohen S (2014) Autism. Lancet 383(9920):896–910. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61539-1
Lane A, Harpster K, Heathcock J (2012) Motor characteristics of young children referred for possible autism spectrum disorder. Pediatr Phys Ther 24(1):21–29. doi:10.1097/PEP.0b013e31823e071a
LeBarton ES, Iverson JM (2016) Associations between gross motor and communication development in at-risk infants. Infant Behav Dev 44:59–67. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.05.003
Lemcke S, Juul S, Parner ET, Lauritsen MB, Thorsen P (2013) Early signs of autism in toddles: a follow-up study in the Danish National Birth Cohort. J Autism Dev Disord 43(10):2366–2375. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1785-z
Lloyd M, MacDonald M, Lord C (2013) Motor skills of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Autism 17(2):133–146. doi:10.1177/1362361311402230
Olivié H (2012) The medical care of children with autism. Eur J Pediatr 171(5):741–749. doi:10.1007/s00431-011-1669-1
Nickel AR, Thatcher AR, Keller F, Wozniak RH, Iverson JM (2013) Posture development in infants at heightened vs. low risk for autism spectrum disorder. Infancy 18(5):639–661
Reichow B, Barton EE, Boyd BA, Hume K (2012) Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Cochrane Database Syst Rev 10:CD009260. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009260.pub2
Sacrey LA, Bennett JA, Zwaigenbaum L (2015) Early infant development and intervention for autism spectrum disorder. J Child Neurol 30(14):1921–1929. doi:10.1177/0883073815601500
Sacrey LA, Zwaigenbaum L, Bryson S, Brian J, Smith IM, Roberts W et al (2015) Can parent concerns predict autism spectrum disorder? A prospective study of high-risk siblings from 6 to 36 months of age. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 54(6):470–478. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2015.03.014
Teitelbaum P, Teitelbaum O, Nye J, Fryman J, Maurer RG (1998) Movement analysis in infancy may be useful for early diagnosis of autism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95(23):13982–13987
Zachor DA, Curatolo P, Participants of Italian-Israeli Consensus Conference (2014) Recommendations for early diagnosis and intervention in autism spectrum disorders: an Italian-Israeli consensus conference. Eur J Paediatr Neurol 18(2):107–118. doi:10.1016/j.ejpn.2013.09.002
Zwaigenbaum L, Bauman ML, Stone WL, Yirmiya N, Estes A, Hansen RL et al (2015) Early identification of autism spectrum disorder: recommendations for practice and research. Pediatrics 136(Suppl 1):S1–S9. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-3667B
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that she has no conflicts of interest.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Informed consent
Not applicable.
Additional information
Communicated by Mario Bianchetti
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harris, S.R. Early motor delays as diagnostic clues in autism spectrum disorder. Eur J Pediatr 176, 1259–1262 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-017-2951-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-017-2951-7