What is Assessment of Motor Function

Few studies have longitudinally investigated the development of the motor function in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this chapter, the author investigated trends in how the development of motor coordination ability is closely related to motor functions in children with ASD. The participants were children enrolled in a special education school for persons with developmental disabilities in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. Among them, the study targeted 35 children who took the Body Coordination Test (BCT) continuously for more than three years. Although there were individual differences, the average score on the BCT increased with age. In particular, children with ASD showed moderate development, even during adolescence, when typical children experienced the plateau effect. The results suggest that children with ASD have great educational potential in adolescence.