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Sora
Love all, trust a few
Joined: Sep 16, 2006
Age: 20
Posts: 2857
Location: Europe
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 Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:16 am Post subject: Motor skills: autism vs. AS |
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I read there's a general difference between motor skill development in those with autism and Asperger's.
The German ASD article always said so. It says 'there're no motor skill issues in classical autism that are intrinsically due to the autism (there may be additional disorders though)' and that 'it's typical for those with AS to have motor skill delays and clumsiness due to their AS'.
True or false?
I'm unsure. Who came up with that idea?
I actually had very advanced fine motor skills all the time. I had good to above average gross motor skills, too. With the exception that I still don't play ball games despite this great advantage, because I struggle to recognise distances and moving balls that threaten to crash right into my head.
Edit: When I made a poll about motor skills here, almost everyone regardless specific label said they had either motor clumsiness now or once in the past.
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marshall
Under the whirlwind
Joined: Apr 15, 2007
Age: 28
Posts: 1461
Location: North West United States
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:34 am Post subject: |
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I'm not clumsy in ordinary situations but I can't play sports that well either.
The one thing I've always been good with is my fingers. I could play with the really tiny Lego sets when I was 4-5 years old. Also excelled at building block towers. Never good at throwing a ball though.
I have good fine motor ability but poor gross motor ability.
Last edited by marshall on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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CyclopsSummers
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jun 22, 2008
Age: 21
Posts: 152
Location: Mokum, the Netherlands
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:37 am Post subject: |
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I have classical autism, and my motor skills were terrible as a young child. My mother had to train them, and now I haven't ANY problems in that area. Remarkable progress.
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intense
Deinonychus
Joined: Jul 10, 2008
Posts: 351
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:45 am Post subject: |
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I'm not really clumsy at all but I could never play tennis I would be all over the court and usually nowhere near the ball.
I think I have good balance but I was never good with ball sports especially tennis.
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Danielismyname
Troglodyte descended
Joined: Apr 03, 2007
Posts: 5926
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:04 am Post subject: |
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My motor devlopment was above-average.
Back in the day, Wing said it was one of the pointers towards Kanner's in comparison to AS; I don't know what she says now.
From Lorna Wing:
| Quote: | | The one area in which this type of comparison does not seem to apply is in motor development. Typically, autistic children tend to be good at climbing and balancing when young. Those with Asperger syndrome, on the other hand, are notably ill-co-ordinated in posture, gait and gestures. Even this may not be a particularly useful point of differentiation, since children who have typical autism when young tend to become clumsy in movement and much less attractive and graceful in appearance by the time of adolescence (see DeMyer, 1976, 1979 for a discussion of motor skills in autism and autistic-like conditions). |
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shopaholic
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 01, 2007
Posts: 619
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:12 am Post subject: |
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| I still have really poor fine motor skills, but the gross ones are better. (I have worked on them for many years). |
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2ukenkerl
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 20, 2007
Posts: 4860
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:32 am Post subject: |
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| I can thread a needle if needed, assuming I can see the slit, etc... STILL, I can't catch, or jumping jacks. I could probably do so if I really worked at it, but I haven't. |
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Bradleigh
Skilled Aspie Magician
Joined: May 26, 2008
Age: 18
Posts: 4267
Location: Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:47 am Post subject: |
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I have quite poor motor skills so I used to practice with diferent things like video games and spining a stick or pole with my fingers, I can spin things quite well and self taught. But I still have bad fine motor skills, it can get realy realy frustrating.
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Jeyradan
Velociraptor
Joined: Jan 17, 2008
Posts: 402
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:53 am Post subject: |
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I am fairly clumsy, on the whole; I don't know how much is from the "distance/speed-judging" aspect of it and how much is gross motor control. When I was going through my elementary school report cards during diagnosis, though, I was struck by one gym teacher's comment that I had a gross motor delay (or something worded similarly, using the phrase "gross motor").
I had always thought that I had good fine motor control (I type quickly; I play musical instruments), and still believe that I do, but I have noticed a couple of issues. I make many typos - I just correct them so quickly as I type that my overall speed is high. And I grip my pens and pencils "wrong" - I have always held them far more tightly than usual, and pressed far harder during writing (in school, other children commented on this). I was surprised to learn that this can be due to fine motor issues.
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anbuend
Oak-Type Autie
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 3302
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: |
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From what I read in one article (it was in JADD awhile back -- maybe someone else can find the exact reference), there are two areas of motor skills things that can happen in autistic people, but are actually manifestations of something similar, just in different areas.
One is clumsiness. That's what people are used to thinking of as a motor skills problem, and that's what people seem to usually associate with AS.
Another is motor planning difficulties, or something like that. As in, the trouble is not always with coordination, but with something further up the line in terms of motor skills. This can exist even in someone with extremely good coordination for triggered or involuntary movements.
I just can't remember the specifics.
I doubt that there's an exact correspondence between when you spoke and which one of these you're more likely to have going on.
I have a friend who's extremely clumsy and she's definitely not at all got the stereotypical "AS" language profile . A lot of her clumsiness is as much a perceptual problem as it is a coordination problem. On the other hand, I have excellent coordination but more severe problems with motor planning. This means that if something triggers a movement I can execute it perfectly, and if it doesn't I might just get stuck, or might do it awkwardly. I was one of those kids who could balance on anything but couldn't pass a standardized test of agility because it required too many entirely conscious/purposeful movements. She was one of those kids who just bashed into things all the time and was always dropping and breaking things.
The thing is, our motor problems aren't totally foreign to each other. She can easily imagine what it would be like to have mine -- just a problem a little further up the line than hers. It's just that for whatever reason, they do occur in slightly different places in the sequence of events that goes into movement, so they look very different.
Things aren't always that clear cut of course -- a person can have both things going on. Just thought I'd try to illustrate the difference. Should be noted that both of us don't meet AS criteria, because both of us had language development outside the bounds of AS.
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Last edited by anbuend on Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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trotz
Blue Jay
Joined: Apr 25, 2008
Posts: 89
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| I don't think of myself as clumsy unless I don't concentrate enough on what I'm doing. This comes from my own impatience more than anything. |
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cyberscan
Snowy Owl
Joined: Apr 17, 2008
Posts: 161
Location: Near Panama, City Florida
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: I'm Bad at Sports |
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There is not a single sport that I can play well because I am not co-ordinated enough. I have the same problem with playing musical instruments or typing on a computer. However, I am able to pick locks, so what gives. By the way, I am a classic Autie.
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anbuend
Oak-Type Autie
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 3302
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:50 am Post subject: |
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Oh, here's the article I was referencing. Or at least the abstract. (I've got the full text somewhere.)
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liloleme
Velociraptor
Joined: Jun 09, 2008
Age: 41
Posts: 413
Location: California
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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I have gross motor skill problems. When I was a kid I couldnt even kick a ball. I was always the last to be picked on a team in school for sports. I am quite the klutz and am ususally covered with bruises and cuts. However I do have excellent fine motor skills.
My 6 year old and my 16 year old have fine motor skill problems we suspect they are both AS. My 16 year old has trouble working keys in a door and opening bottles. She could not tie her shoes until she was 9 years old but she has no trouble playing video games. My 3 year old Autie also has really good fine motor skills but she seems to have ballance issues. |
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Ishmael
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 08, 2008
Posts: 1170
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm Asperger, and I walk into walls. Doors. Tables. Chairs. People. |
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