The influence of motor abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder on caregiver experiences: A pilot study

Background: Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), particularly mothers, experience a unique caregiving demand. Although benefits do exist, caregivers often report a burden due to children’s lack of social interaction and ability to self-care. Development of motor skills employed in these activities is often delayed in children with ASD; however, possible links between motor skills and the experiences of their caregivers is not clearly understood. This pilot study explored caregivers’ descriptions of the functioning of children with ASD in relation to their children’s motor abilities. Methods: Five children (two male, three female, ages 6–8) with ASD participated in the following tasks to assess lateral preference and performance: the WatHand Cabinet Test, involving a series of unimanual tasks; the Large and Small Grooved Pegboards test, which time the placement of pegs into key-shaped holes; Eyedness Tasks, such as looking through a tube with one eye; and Footedness Tasks, such as kicking a ball. The five married female primary caregivers (ages 35–46) of these children participated in one-on-one, semistructured interviews regarding their view of their children’s functioning, and costs and benefits of their experiences. Results: Overall, parents of children who displayed weaker lateralization described their children’s motor abilities in ways that were indicative of greater difficulties with social interaction and age-appropriate selfcare. Conclusions: Implications exist for intervention planning, where service providers should be cognizant of the motor difficulties experienced by children with ASD, and plan interventions that promote functional gains. Citation: Scharoun SM, Markoulakis RA, Fletcher PC, Bryden PJ (2015) The influence of motor abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder on caregiver experiences: A pilot study. Adv Pediatr Res 2:19. doi:10.12715/apr.2015.2.19 Received: February 13, 2015; Accepted: May 12, 2015; Published: August 28, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Scharoun et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Sources of funding: The authors would like to acknowledge the graduate financial support received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (RAM). * Email: [email protected]