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. 2023 Aug:106:102200.
doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2023.102200. Epub 2023 Jun 24.

Measuring Dyspraxia in Autism using a Five-Minute Praxis Exam

Ashley de Marchena  1   2 , Casey J Zampella  2 , Zachary Dravis  2 , Juhi Pandey  2   3 , Stewart Mostofsky  4 , Robert T Schultz  2   3   5
Affiliations

Measuring Dyspraxia in Autism using a Five-Minute Praxis Exam

Ashley de Marchena et al. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Difficulties with praxis, the ability to perform learned skilled movements, have been robustly demonstrated in autism spectrum disorder (autism). However, praxis assessment is not routinely included in autism characterization batteries, in part because it is traditionally time consuming to administer and score. We test whether dyspraxia in autism can be captured with a brief measure.

Method: Youth with autism (n = 41) and matched typically developing controls (n = 32), aged 8 to 16 years, completed a 5-minute praxis battery. The 19-item battery included four subtests: gesture to command, tool use, familiar imitation, and meaningless imitation. Video recordings were coded for error types and compared to participant characterization variables.

Results: Consistent with research using a lengthy battery, autistic youth made more errors overall, with a large effect size. Groups demonstrated similar distributions of error types, suggesting that dyspraxia in autism is not limited to a particular error form. In the autism group, praxis was associated with adaptive functioning, but not autism traits.

Conclusions: A shortened battery is sufficiently sensitive to praxis differences between autistic and typically developing youth, increasing the feasibility of including praxis within clinical assessments or larger research batteries aimed at testing relationships with downstream skills.

Keywords: Adaptive Behavior Skills; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Imitation; Motor Skills; Nonverbal Communication; Praxis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest. Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Total errors per item on each subtest of the praxis battery, by diagnostic group. Note: *p < .05 **p < .005 ***p < .0001
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Total errors of each type, across the praxis battery, by diagnostic group. *p < .05 **p < .005
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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