So weird that increased white matter seems to influence motor skills in two different directions...
When I read this part: "increased volume of white matter (white matter consists of the connections between brain regions)" it made me think that this is cause of sensory issues, in fact I think I read this some where. Basically a source of sensory input registers in more than one place in the brain. I think of it as pushing multiple keys on the piano, and the awful sound it makes (an analogy).
Anyhow, my son was definitely slow to develop motor skills, and has a slow running gait. Part of this is sensory (he used to have gravitational insecurity).
Thanks for sharing the article.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/78338.php
In Autism, Link Found Between Increased White Matter And Poor Motor Skills In Children
Article Date: 03 Aug 2007 - 4:00 PDT
A study published in the August issue of the journal Brain demonstrates, for the first time, an association between increased white matter volume and functional impairment in children with autism. Findings from researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md. reveal that in children with autism, increased white matter volume in the motor region of the brain predicts poorer motor skills. Conversely, in typically developing children, increased white matter volume predicts improved motor skills, with a similar association observed in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The relationship between increased white matter volume and functional impairment, which appears to be specific to autism, may be representative of global patterns of brain abnormality in autism that not only contribute to motor dysfunction, but also to deficits in socialization and communication that define the disorder.
Children with autism are typically motorically clumsy and awkward, similar to how they are socially clumsy and awkward. They often experience difficulties with basic motor control and with learning more complex motor skills, such as riding a tricycle, pumping their legs on a swing or buttoning, zipping and tying shoe laces. Additionally, high-functioning children with autism often excel in academic areas, such as math, as opposed to athletic activities, such as baseball. Because measures of motor function are highly quantifiable and reproducible, they are much easier to study than measures of social and communication behavior. Motor signs can serve as markers for deficits in parallel brain systems important for control of socialization and communication.
Researchers utilized anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI) measures to study 76 children ages 8-12 years, including: 20 high-functioning children with autism; a control group of 36 typically developing (TD) children; and a clinical control group of 20 children with ADHD, a developmental disorder which, like autism, has been found to be associated with impairments in motor execution and control. Findings show a robust association between increased white matter volume and basic motor skill impairment in children with autism, which suggests that it may be a defining biological feature of the disorder. Results demonstrate that the association of increasing white matter volume and poor motor function appears to be specific to autism, as this association was not observed in the TD or ADHD groups.
"Carefully examining systems responsible for controlling simple aspects of behavior, such as basic motor control, can provide a window into understanding the systems that are responsible for control of more complex social and communicative behavior," said Dr. Stewart H. Mostofsky, lead study author and a pediatric neurologist in the Department of Developmental Cognitive Neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "This finding is an important step forward and will guide future research into the abnormalities associated with socialization and communication that define the disorder."
Motor impairments, such as those seen in autism, offer valuable insight into the neurologic basis of developmental disorders. This is especially critical for autism and other disorders where the neurologic basis is not well understood. The most consistent neuroimaging finding in children with autism is increased brain volume, which has been primarily attributed to an increased volume of white matter (white matter consists of the connections between brain regions). To address the current lack of evidence showing that increases in white matter volume are associated with functional impairment in children with autism, researchers in this study examined associations between motor skills and white matter volume.
Researchers assessed participants' basic motor skills using a standardized motor examination for children, the Physical and Neurologic Examination of Subtle Signs (PANESS), which has been used in past studies to demonstrate basic motor skill impairments in children with autism and ADHD. With the PANESS, higher scores indicate poorer performance. Consistent with previous findings, children with autism had significantly poorer motor performance (higher PANESS scores) than TD controls. Researchers identified a strong positive correlation between total PANESS score and white matter volume, revealing that increased white matter volume predicted poorer motor skills in these children.
In contrast to the children with autism, TD children showed a significant correlation in the opposite direction, with increased white matter volume predicting better motor skills (lower PANESS scores). The correlation in children with ADHD was considerably different from the children with autism and similar to the TD group.
In the future, Dr. Mostofsky and his colleagues hope to examine correlations of brain structure with motor performance using imaging techniques, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which can provide additional information about white matter connections. Upcoming studies may also extend this research to younger children and investigate, from a developmental perspective, what contributes to impaired acquisition and learning of motor skills in children with autism. Additionally, the brain systems involved in motor skill learning appear to be important for learning aspects of socialization and communication, including language. Future research that examines how these learning systems are affected in children with autism could therefore provide crucial information about the brain basis of the disorder and prove very valuable in guiding, and ultimately improving, therapy.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
Thanks WiMom- this is interesting to me since my girls have gross motor skills delays - though this doesn't seem to be as common with our kids as I had thought!
A little off topic, but when I read this:
Children with autism are typically motorically clumsy and awkward, similar to how they are socially clumsy and awkward. They often experience difficulties with basic motor control and with learning more complex motor skills, such as riding a tricycle, pumping their legs on a swing or buttoning, zipping and tying shoe laces. Additionally, high-functioning children with autism often excel in academic areas, such as math, as opposed to athletic activities, such as baseball.
I thought, yeah, I've known about 20 people like this throughout my life. I mean, what they are describing - stereotypical nerdie, brainiac smart kid type. I new lots of kids like this growing up.
I have good gross and fine motor skills (played on sports teams through high school - not a star, but not bad), btw, while the girl's mother is (admittedly) quite clumsy.
I had ten yrs of ballet lessons (two in college). I am clumsy as hell if I am not concentrating.
I looked great in class, but a longer, actual dance would KILL me!
And never mind team sports ... I shoulda been permanently assigned to adaptive gym!
That is so ME!!!! Ali too! It is funny, I was always the last one picked for gym class...but I was the top of my class all through school. I wanted to be good at athletics but just couldn't. I was clumsy and had trouble they describe. Still to this day I do not tie my shoes like other adults. I make 2 separate loops and tie together...which a few years ago I was surprised to find out was not the norm....it was how my mom taught me when I was 7 or 8 and still having trouble learning. And Ali...she trips over her own feet, walks right into walls, and drops things all the time.
Oh you can be an NT klutz, all right.
I have such poor hand-eye coord that if anyone throws anything at me I yelp, NO I'M A KLUTZ!
And I, too, walk into walls ... and fall down stairs ... D'OH!
I am the klutz in our family. However, I had an August birthday and skipped a grade, so it is hard to say if I was picked last at sports because of how bad I was, or if I was so much younger developmentally that there was no way I could compete.
I feel it's probably some of both - I kind of gave up because I was so far behind everyone else. However, now with having ds and poor gross motor coordination - well, it has made me look at things differently.
I didn't ride a bike until I was almost 11. My mom told me she entered a Colonial bread sweepstakes and won a 10-speed bike for me. Just so happens that her best friend worked at the Colonial store outlet and we went there to pick up the bike. I didn't have my picture taken or anything - hmmm... Mom still insists that she won the sweepstakes. Me thinks not!
I fall into walls - literally. I've always had extremely poor eyesight and depth perception - my contacts are custom-made. So, I always put it down to that.
I don't swim well - don't know if I could save myself. Yes, I know I need to work on that - but it is SO hard to do it as an adult. I took 2 weeks of Y adult swim classes a few years ago and trust me, it is a humiliating thing to be in the pool with 3 year olds who can swim better than you! I can do the back-float and back-stroke until kingdom come, but coordinating the breaths in the front crawl - well, forget it!
I can play sports to some extent - not great, but not horrible either. I can play tennis decently, softball somewhat, I pretty much stink at basketball, not bad at touch football. Not horrible at volleyball. The problem is - I was SO bad at them in gym class (again, 2 years behind) that I never went out for any sports so didn't get the practice that a lot of others did. So, I don't know the little tricks and techniques that others learned as a child.
I am determined that my ds will learn some of this! He is almost better at swimming than I am now
BTW, I can catch almost anything someone throws at me. Don't know how I do that with such poor depth perception, but I do know my dad took me out almost every night for at least a few minutes in the summer to practice. I can't get ds to practice with me hardly ever - so that's out!
Anyway, you can have extremely poor motor coordination and be NT!
My son was tested for fine and gross motor skills and tested above average in both, and they told us that this is very unusual, that was the first time I ever heard about this relations..,
I just wanted to add that all math professors that I met are clumpsy!
Prism lenses have helped a lot in driveing for me. I have poor convergence/farsided both. I have used them for 6 years now. Daniel did for a while also. His issue is in the seccatic nerves in his eyes. He had 1 year of Vt also. I hate not being well grounded either. I think since some kids play less out side doesn't help either. Less recess/pe is a bad thing also. [QUOTE=fred]Children with autism are typically motorically clumsy and awkward, similar to how they are socially clumsy and awkward. They often experience difficulties with basic motor control and with learning more complex motor skills, such as riding a tricycle, pumping their legs on a swing or buttoning, zipping and tying shoe laces. Additionally, high-functioning children with autism often excel in academic areas, such as math, as opposed to athletic activities, such as baseball.
[/QUOTE]
Oddly enough, for my son, gross motor skills are a strength. I think he has the best arm in the entire t-ball league this year. For what it's worth, both my husband and I are very athletic and both boys seem to have inherited the "jock gene."