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The Relationship of Handedness to the Cognitive, Language, and Visuo-Spatial Skills of Autistic Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Luke Y. Tsai*
Affiliation:
Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA

Summary

The relationship between hand preference, age, and developmental functioning was examined in 70 autistic patients. Unilateral or mixed handedness appeared to be stabilized by the age of five years. Patients with established hand lateralization tended to function better in all developmental areas including intelligence, language, and visuospatial abilities. It is a tenable hypothesis that the presence or absence of hand lateralization by age five may be an important predictor of outcome in autism.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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