Module 5 Motor Control and Motor Learning in Autism

Cindy's Motor Control and Learning Style:

Motor Control: Cindy demonstrates weakness, instability, decreased muscle tone, joint laxity, bilateral incoordination, frequent switching of hand use, and various grasp patterns. She also demonstrates proximal "fixing" of joints for apparent added stability. She typically leans into people and furniture. She tends to move from one surface to another at a fairly rapid pace, "crashing" into her end goal (chair, mom, etc.). Cindy also has a tendency to "plow" through obstacles without stepping over them or walking around them. Strengths include: navigation of stairs, mark time, and with handheld or handrail assistance; carrying, pushing, and pulling fairly heavy objects around house; creeping in and out of kitchen cupboard; and sliding down a slide.

Learning Style: Cindy does well when activities are rapidly presented one after another. She performs better in a minimally stimulating environment, where clear physical boundaries are present. She has done well with a picture schedule to aid in her anticipation of upcoming tasks. She has recently demonstrated an increase in tolerance and enjoyment to sensory input, demonstrated by increased engagement, eye contact, and vocalizations. In addition to improving social interactions and increasing body awareness, these sensory breaks have been advantageous in increasing arousal for eliciting more on-task behavior during structured play activities. Cindy has also begun to respond to verbal praise. Now, when praise is not offered after each consequtive task completion, Cindy tells herself "good job" : )



Treatment Strategy:
1. Because of Cindy's young age and skill level, my intervention would continue to be frequent and intense, incorporating the aid of Cindy's family and team of EI providers. I would also continue to provide constant practice with a focus on simple movements. Once a good level of mastery had been achieved, I would move to a more variable frequency of intervention, with random practice, and increased expectations in the complexity of movements to increase learning potential and generalization (strategies based on Mass, 2008 article).
2. Considering the findings from the articles by Rinehart, et all (2006) and Vernazza-Martin, et al (2005), I would work on executive function skills to enhance motor planning. I would focus on prepositions like in, on, under, and over as well as categorizing, sequencing, memory, etc.
3. Considering the above mentioned motor control concerns, I would work on increasing body awareness, overall stability, and bilateral coordination.
4. I would work on simple oral motor, fine motor, and gross motor imitations increasing the complexity and number of sequences appropriately over time.
5. It may be advantageous to visually highlight obstables. I have had previous success using orange tape on stairs for example, with other children to aid in their visual awareness and depth perception. Having Cindy listen to music with a slow, steady beat may also help to slow down her movements.