Relationships between autistic traits, motor skills and socioeconomic status

Background: Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that presents with social and communicative difficulties as well as restricted or repetitive behaviors. Previous research has highlighted the ubiquity of motor impairments in autistic children, but the relationship between the severity of motor impairment and the degree of autistic traits has not yet been adequately researched. The role of socioeconomic status in the development of autism is also poorly understood.Method: We used the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) to assess social and behavioral autistic traits and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Proficiency Test (Second Edition) to assess motor skills in a cohort of 50 children from the central Johannesburg region. A short questionnaire was used to assess socioeconomic status of the family of each participant.Results: Significant correlations were found between many motor skill domains and the domains of the ATEC specifically pertaining to sociability, communication and sensory awareness (p < 0.05), but no relationships between autistic traits and socioeconomic status were observed.Conclusions: Our findings support a possible relationship in the aetiology of social and communicative autistic traits, and impairment of motor skills. Therefore, motor interventions could potentially be used to improve social and communicative difficulties, as well as perseverative behaviors in autism.