Laterality and Lateralization in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Using a Standardized Neuro-Psychomotor Assessment

ABSTRACT

A detailed assessment of laterality in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was realized, including handedness and other measures (muscle tone, manual performance, dominant eye), using a standardized battery for the developmental assessment of neuro-psychomotor functions. The results of the laterality tests relating to cerebral hemisphere organization (spontaneous gestural laterality and tonic laterality) were different in ASD children, and indicate that the cerebral organization could be disrupted. These assessments, added to the observations of usual laterality most often reported in the literature, provide better understanding of the developmental organization from the pathophysiological point of view in children with ASD.

Acknowledgments

B. Olliac and L. Vaivre-Douret contributed equally to this work. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the children and their families. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

This study was supported through funding provided by the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie de la Haute-Vienne, the Fondation pour la Recherche en Psychomotricité et Maladies de Civilisation and by the Fondation Initiative Autisme, which are supported by the Fondation de France.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported through funding provided by the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie de la Haute-Vienne, the Fondation pour la Recherche en Psychomotricité et Maladies de Civilisation and by the Fondation Initiative Autisme, which are supported by the Fondation de France.