Our psych and neurologist said it was common to have fine and gross motor delays among kids on the spectrum. Hypotonia or low muscle tone is common, which contirbutes to the problem. The other problem is motor planning. They may have the strength, but not the motor planning. Many of the ASD kids I've worked with were big climbers and had good gross motor skills. My son has hypotonia and motor planning problems. Teaching him step by step how do accomplish some of the tasks seems to help. We also do OT/PT exercises that were reccomended before we stopped OT and PT.
Motor skills are motions carried out when the brain, nervous system, and muscles work together. Fine motor skills are small movements
Gross motor and fine motor skills develop in tandem because many activities depend on the co-ordination of both sorts of skills. At 3 months you may notice your baby bringing his hands together over his chest as he lies on his back (a gross motor skill) and then playing with his hands (a fine motor skill). Even filling a shape sorter box, at about 18 months, for example, requires that your baby be able to use gross motor skills to hold his body steady enough to grasp the shapes firmly and fine motor skills to twist or turn each shape so that it fits into its appropriate hole.
You can encourage your baby to develop his fine and gross motor skills by watching to see how he uses his fingers, his arms, and his legs and then providing other opportunities for him to use his body in similar ways, perhaps with different toys or from a different position, which makes it slightly more difficult. A good activity is one which stretches your baby just a little. Your baby will find that developing his skills is more fun when he has a frequent change of position and activity. Let little and often be your motto. But yes it common in ASD kids!
Did not know motor skills were a spectrum issue, either.
DD had fine delays, low muscle tone, but otherwise good gross motor!
Aiden was tested by his preschool in regards to fine and gross motor skills and he is above average from his age, according to them.
They said to us, it is not common at all for kids on the spectrum. I have no idea, so I am asking you what do you think?
Apparently all of Kanner's original subjects had exceptional fine motor skills. I've heard plenty of parents talking about their own childrens motor skills impairments - most seem in the area of fine motor (contrary to Kanner's study). My own children have good fine motor skills and poor gross motor skills.I would concur it probably isn't common just based on all of the posts I've read over the past few months. My son has adequate fine motor and strong gross motor. I didn't realize the motor issues were common with ASD kids until I joined this board.