A quarterly publication of the Autism Research Institute
Winter 2026 | Number 1, Volume 40
The sensorimotor impairments common in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) appear to persist into adulthood, according to a study by U.S. researchers.
Zheng Wang and colleagues comment, “Sensorimotor impairments are well documented in ASD. However, little is known about how these difficulties present in middle-aged and older autistic adults or how they relate to demographic factors and autistic traits.” To investigate this question, the researchers asked 52 adults with ASD and 56 age- and sex-matched controls, all between 30 and 73 years of age, to perform a test measuring their ability to adjust their hand grip in a precise manner while performing tasks.
They note, “Precision gripping is a core sensorimotor skill that integrates sensory input to adjust hand aperture and generate appropriate force for object manipulation (e.g., writing, holding a spoon, buttoning clothes).” They report, “Compared to non-autistic adults, autistic adults showed several differences in grip performance, including overshooting the target force, greater variability in grip force, and releasing their grip too early.” In the autistic group, some impairments were significantly associated with increasing age and higher levels of repetitive behaviors.
The researchers say, “These findings demonstrate that manual motor impairments persist into adulthood in ASD, and suggest shared neurobiological networks that underlie both motor dysfunction and core autistic traits.”
“Atypical visually guided precision grip control in middle-aged and older autistic adults,” Zheng Wang, Hang Qu, Danielle Christensen, Hanna M. Gemmell, Ellen M. Parks, Kyla E. Wetherington, Ann-Marie Orlando, Regilda A. Romero, Bikram Karmakar, and David E. Vaillancourt, Autism Research, December 12, 2025 (free online). Address: Zheng Wang, Neurocognitive and Behavioral Development Laboratory, Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, [email protected].
