Over the past decade, there has been increasing research on different aspects of Autism Spectrum DIsorders. For example, Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience just released an issue completely dedicated to sensorimotor differences in ASD. For this MTRB post we will take a brief look at some of the core articles in this issue.

Robledo et al. (2012) completed a qualitative analysis of perceptions of persons with ASD. The researchers found differences in the way that the persons with ASD perceived and reacted to the world around them. This affected the way the participants interacted, communicated, moved, and behaved. The full article can be accessed at the link. What I enjoyed about this paper was the perspective of the individuals. So often in research we talk “about” or study an aspect/behavior of people with disabilities. This paper looked at the first person account of what it is to have ASD.  That is one benefit to qualitative research – you can capture feelings and perceptions.

Donnellan et al (2013) challenge our typical classification of ASD. With a review of neuroscience literature and examination of sensory and movement differences, the authors   propose that many behaviors can be linked to neurological differences. They suggest that there are different ways to treat people with ASD based on this information. This is a hypothesis paper that raises some interesting question about how we traditionally define ASD and how that may differ from the extant research.

The issue has articles on social cognition and motor, an article on hopping to an external auditory cue (without success for children with ASD), and grip/fine motor skills. The great thing about this entire issue is that it presents several papers on ASD, all of which have 100% free access to the public. In fact, you will find this in all of Frontiers journals. It is one of the few resources where you can “get your hands” on the actual research without an academic affiliation. For example, in another issue of Frontiers is Patel’s OPERA hypothesis – an interesting article on speech, language, and the use of music for neuroplasticity. You are now challenged to go and read some science!

References:

Donnellan, A.M., Hill, D.A., & Leary, M.R. (2013) Rethinking autism: Implications of sensory and movement differences for understanding and support. Front. Integr. Neurosci., 6(124). doi: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00124

Robledo, J., Donnellan, A.M., & Strandt-Conroy, K. (2012) An exploration of sensory and movement differences from the perspective of individuals with autism. Front. Integr. Neurosci., 6(107). doi: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00107