Clinical trial NCT06144775: A Kinematic Analysis of Motor Planning and Movement Execution of Children With Autism Spectrum Condition
Official title: Manual Motor Planning Deficits and Performance Differences in Children With Autism Spectrum Condition: a Kinematic Analysis to Extract Objective Markers of Motor Atypia
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Keywords: autism spectrum condition
motor planning
kinematic analysis
children
Lead sponsor: Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Messina, Italy
First posted: 2023-11-22
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 7
Maximum age (years): 13
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Thirty children with ASD and 30 typically developing (TD) children will participate in the study. The children with ASD will be recruited and tested at the clinical facilities of the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of the National Research Council of Italy (IRIB-CNR) in Messina. To be included in the study the child needs to have an ASD diagnosis based on the DSM-5 criteria from a licensed clinical child neuropsychiatrist but no established intellectual disability (ID) diagnosis. The TD children will recruit through advertisements in schools located close to the Institute. Informed consent will obtain from all subjects involved in the study.

Brief 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 criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of Autism
* QI ≥ 80.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Motor deficits due to another clinical condition

Primary outcomes:
measure: Reaction time and latency
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
measure: Speed
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
measure: Quantity of motion
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
measure: Frequency
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
measure: Acceleration
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
measure: Angular speed
timeFrame: The recording session needs approximately 20 minutes to complete.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence - Second Edition (WASI-II)
timeFrame: The evaluation session will be scheduled before of kinematics measurements. The test needs approximately 25-40 minutes to complete.
measure: Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2)
timeFrame: The evaluation session will be scheduled before of kinematics measurements. The test needs approximately 20-40 minutes. The checklist needs approximately 10 minutes.
measure: Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)
timeFrame: The evaluation session will be scheduled before of kinematics measurements. Questionnaires take 10 minutes to administer.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Messina
country: Italy
facility: Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR)
Study officials:
affiliation: Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
name: Flavia Marino
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Backstrom A, Johansson AM, Rudolfsson T, Ronnqvist L, von Hofsten C, Rosander K, Domellof E. Motor planning and movement execution during goal-directed sequential manual movements in 6-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder: A kinematic analysis. Res Dev Disabil. 2021 Aug;115:104014. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104014. Epub 2021 Jun 24.
citation: Foster NC, Bennett SJ, Causer J, Elliott D, Bird G, Hayes SJ. Getting Off to a Shaky Start: Specificity in Planning and Feedforward Control During Sensorimotor Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Res. 2020 Mar;13(3):423-435. doi: 10.1002/aur.2214. Epub 2019 Oct 29.
citation: Glazebrook CM, Elliott D, Lyons J. A kinematic analysis of how young adults with and without autism plan and control goal-directed movements. Motor Control. 2006 Jul;10(3):244-64. doi: 10.1123/mcj.10.3.244.
citation: Kaur M, M Srinivasan S, N Bhat A. Comparing motor performance, praxis, coordination, and interpersonal synchrony between children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Res Dev Disabil. 2018 Jan;72:79-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2017.10.025. Epub 2017 Nov 6.
citation: Grace N, Johnson BP, Rinehart NJ, Enticott PG. Are Motor Control and Regulation Problems Part of the ASD Motor Profile? A Handwriting Study. Dev Neuropsychol. 2018;43(7):581-594. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2018.1504948. Epub 2018 Aug 20.
citation: Vivanti G, Trembath D, Dissanayake C. Mechanisms of imitation impairment in autism spectrum disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2014 Nov;42(8):1395-405. doi: 10.1007/s10802-014-9874-9.
citation: Zampella CJ, Wang LAL, Haley M, Hutchinson AG, de Marchena A. Motor Skill Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Clinically Focused Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2021 Aug 13;23(10):64. doi: 10.1007/s11920-021-01280-6.