Manual Motor Planning Deficits and Performance Differences in Children With Autism Spectrum Condition: a Kinematic Analysis to Extract Objective Markers of Motor Atypia

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Other
Study Type: Observational
SUMMARY

Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a behavioral syndrome characterized by a severe organizational disorder of thinking and major functions that regulate human adaptation. It is to be considered as a functional disorder, or of executive functions, whose dysfunction is expressed in the difficulty of making voluntary movements, sequentially coordinated with each other according to a purpose, and of initiating an action, planning and monitoring it by inhibiting inappropriate responses such as gesture perseveration. Literature studies suggest that, compared to children with typical development (TD) and regardless of cognitive status, children with ASC have pervasive motor dysfunction that results in universal difficulties in several aspects of motor function, including - (1) fine motricity, (2) some aspects of praxis while performing tasks based on imitation of sequences, (3) simultaneous coordination of both sides of the body during rhythmic tasks of the upper limbs, and́ (4) interpersonal coordination and synchrony. The hypothesis of the study is that by comparing these aspects in 2 groups of children with ASC and children with TD using A.I. systems, it will be possible to extract objective markers of motor deficits found in autism, facilitating the validation of measurements acquired with clinical scales. The objective of the study is to investigate the characteristics of manual motor planning and performance difficulties in children with ASC using kinematic measurements. 30 ASC children with medium-high functioning and 30 TD children, aged 7 to 13 years, IQ \> 80, in the absence of motor deficits due to another clinical condition, will be recruited. The protocol will take place in a single session during which children will be video-recorded performing simple and complex rhythmic upper limb actions with a social partner. The presence of characteristic fine motor behaviors, practice errors, perseverations, movement variability, and interpersonal synchrony will be observed. The study will involve the use of 3 tasks contained in NEPSY-II: Finger tapping, Visual-motor precision, and Imitation of manual motor sequences. The videos will be recorded simultaneously and the different angles will allow hand kinematics to be extracted and analyzed with A.I. algorithms to measure displacement, velocity, acceleration, frequency and any other kinematic parameters highlighted. Thus, it is expected to identify objective markers of motor deficits found in children with ASC.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 7
Maximum Age: 13
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Diagnosis of Autism

• QI ≥ 80.

Locations
Other Locations
Italy
Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR)
RECRUITING
Messina
Contact Information
Primary
Ileana Scarcella
ileana.scarcella@irib.cnr.it
+393408322948
Backup
Giovanni Pioggia
giovanni.pioggia@irib.cnr.it
+393203390892
Time Frame
Start Date: 2022-10-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2025-03-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 60
Treatments
Children with autism spectrum condition
Thirty ASC children with medium-high functioning, aged 7 to 13 years, IQ \> 80, in the absence of motor deficits due to another clinical condition.
Children with typical development
Thirty TD children, aged 7 to 13 years, IQ \> 80, in the absence of motor deficits due to clinical condition.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: Messina, Italy
Leads: Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov