Language and Motor Development
Consider the role of language and assess for it. A-SODs’ perceptual peaks in ability contrast with A-NoSoDs’ stronger language (Choido, Majerus, & Mottron, 2017; Choido, Mottron, & Majerus, 2019; Duret et al., 2018), although exceptions to these trends exist (Cheng, Lam, & To, 2017). General difficulties with receptive language difficulties account for whether autistic people struggle with understanding figurative language (Gernbsbacher & Pripas-Kapit, 2012). Similarly, ability to generalize in verbally fluent autistic children and adolescents relates to receptive vocabulary but not age (de Marchena, Eigsti, & Yervs, 2015). Therefore, general language learning appears to play a significant role in the developmental catchup by A-SOD.
In contrast to gross motor skills’ relationship to general language development in autistic people (Bedford, Pickles, & Lord, 2016), oral-motor and fine motor delays in autistics’ infancy through early childhood particularly relate to expressive language (Belmonte et al., 2013; Gernsbacher et al., 2008; Iverson & Wozniak, 2007; LeBarton & Iverson, 2013). This ability to spontaneously, precisely match another’s movements in young autistic children predicts spoken language growth (Stone & Yoder, 2001; Miniscalco et al., 2014). Similarly, many autistic children have dyspraxia – poor manual dexterity to command (e.g. gesture) use tools (e.g. control and share objects as in playing), and consciously imitate (Dziuk et al., 2007). These difficulties distinguish autistic children from the motor difficulties of ADHD (MacNeil & Mostofsky, 2012) and even developmental coordination disorder (Kilroy et al., 2022). Fine motor skills play a role in common routes to joint engagement (Bhat, Landa, & Galloway, 2011; Jawal & Ahktar, 2019), which promotes language development (Adamson et al., 2019).
Responsive and imitative caregiving may help. When parents synchronize or match their behavior (e.g., mirroring the child’s rhythm or pace) in response to their autistic child’s, this predicts higher joint engagement and child language (Gulsrud et al., 2016).