Aug 2026· Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology· 1 citation· 67 references
Medicine
TL;DR
There is a critical need for consensus guidelines on ASD assessment practices for people with cerebral palsy and other EOMC, as well as for validated screening and diagnostic tools.
Abstract
Aim
To map diagnostic procedures and standardized instruments reportedly used to identify autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in people with cerebral palsy or other early-onset motor conditions (EOMC) including Rett syndrome and muscular dystrophy.
Method
This review followed the scoping review methodology of the JBI and is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, and ERIC databases were searched in December 2022 and updated in February 2025. Studies specifying ASD diagnostic criteria and/or instruments used to assess ASD in people with EOMC were eligible. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened and data extracted by two reviewers per publication.
Results
Eighty-eight selected studies included 97 544 people with EOMC. Assessment currently seems feasible only in a subset of people with motor issues. Participants presenting severe motor impairments were underrepresented. Many authors reported challenges when performing ASD assessments. Some adaptations were reported for screening-questionnaires, but their validities were untested. A few standardized instruments showed promising psychometric properties in small samples with EOMC, but their diagnostic validity is not established.
Interpretation
There is a critical need for consensus guidelines on ASD assessment practices for people with cerebral palsy and other EOMC, as well as for validated screening and diagnostic tools.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is frequently associated with motor difficulties that may affect daily functioning, participation in physical activity, and developmental outcomes. Although motor impairments have been widely reported in this population, comparative evidence against typically developing (TD) peers remains fragmented across studies and assessment tools. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine whether children and adolescents with ASD show lower motor competence than TD peers and to identify the most affected motor domains. A systematic search was conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and SPORTDiscus up to December 10, 2025. Studies were eligible if they included children or adolescents with ASD and TD controls and assessed motor competence using standardized instruments. A total of 42 studies involving 3142 participants were included. The most frequently used tools were the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, and the Test of Gross Motor Development. Across studies, children and adolescents with ASD consistently showed poorer performance than TD peers in manual dexterity, aiming and catching, balance, locomotor skills, and object control. Meta-analytic findings also indicated that participants with ASD had greater odds of presenting motor difficulty and being classified within the at-risk range. Despite heterogeneity and methodological limitations, the overall evidence supports a broad pattern of lower motor competence in ASD. These findings reinforce the importance of early motor assessment and targeted intervention in clinical and educational contexts.
N. Blanco-Martínez, D. González-Devesa, Silvia Varela et al.· Autism Research· 0 citations
There is an urgent need for prospective longitudinal studies to adequately map the aging trajectories of this population of older adults with ASD, which constitute a vulnerable population.
J. P. S. Gontijo, Marcelo H S S Martins, L. M. Alves· Trends in Psychiatry and Psy...· 0 citations
PURPOSE
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a common but often overlooked neurodevelopmental disorder affecting auditory cognition with psychological, physical, and social consequences. Despite affecting all ages, research on APD diagnosis primarily focuses on children, leaving adult diagnostic criteria and evidence-based tests and guidelines poorly defined. This scoping review aims to map tests used to diagnose developmental APD in adults and identify gaps in the literature.
METHOD
A systematic search was conducted across ten databases (ERIC, CINAHL, Scopus, PubPsych, PsycINFO, PubMed, Cochrane, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and EMBASE). Studies including adults with normal peripheral hearing and reporting diagnostic auditory tests for APD, without cooccurring cognitive, developmental, congenital, or neurological disorder, were included. After deduplication, 1787 records were identified, title and abstract screening yielded 163 full-text articles.
RESULTS
Six studies were included, two experimental studies (n = 59 adults), and four surveys (n = 603 clinicians). Substantial inconsistency in APD test use, heterogeneity in participant characteristics, and referral criteria were revealed.
CONCLUSION
There is currently no consensus on diagnostic tests or criteria for APD in adults. The low number of studies, along with methodological variations, highlights a need for research to provide evidence for what an appropriate test battery would be. Addressing these gaps should lead to improvements in diagnostic reliability and intervention outcomes for adults with APD.
C. Redi, A. Dechsling, Georgios Marentakis et al.· Acta Psychologica· 0 citations
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are both associated with language difficulties, yet the extent to which they share common structural language profiles remains unclear. Previous research has reported both overlap and divergence across phonological, morphosyntactic, semantic, and narrative domains, creating challenges for differential diagnosis and intervention planning.
This systematic review aimed to synthesize empirical evidence comparing structural language abilities in children with ASD and DLD and to identify areas of convergence and divergence across language domains.
A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, ERIC, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and Semantic Scholar following PRISMA guidelines. Studies published in English between 2013 and 2025 were eligible if they included children aged approximately 3–18 years with ASD and DLD and examined structural language domains, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, or narrative measures. 44 studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized using a narrative approach due to methodological heterogeneity.
The included studies suggested overlapping performance between children with ASD accompanied by language impairment (ASD-LI) and children with DLD across receptive and expressive language, morphosyntax, sentence repetition, nonword repetition, and complex syntactic processing. Overlapping performance was particularly evident in grammatical morphology, tense and aspect marking, clitic production, and comprehension of syntactically demanding structures. However, important differences emerged. Children with DLD generally exhibited more consistent and pervasive structural language deficits, whereas language performance in ASD was characterized by greater heterogeneity. Difficulties in ASD were more frequently influenced by pragmatic, attentional, cognitive, and processing-related factors, and atypical error patterns were observed in several linguistic domains.
The available evidence suggests a partially overlapping structural language phenotype between children with ASD and co-occurring language impairment (ASD-LI) and those with DLD, while also highlighting important disorder-specific characteristics. Across several structural language domains, the included studies frequently reported similar performance on standardized language measures. The findings further suggest that similar behavioral performance may reflect distinct underlying linguistic and cognitive mechanisms, resulting in different patterns of language impairment. Overall, the evidence suggests that ASD-LI and DLD share several structural language characteristics but do not represent a single, unified language disorder. These findings have important implications for differential diagnosis, language assessment, and the development of targeted intervention approaches for children with ASD and DLD.
Irine Doghadze, T. Gagoshidze· Frontiers in Psychology· 0 citations
Background Rehabilitation plays a crucial role in maintaining function and independence in neurodegenerative disorders. However, evidence on its effectiveness in atypical parkinsonian syndromes including progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) remains fragmented. Objective This scoping review aimed to comprehensively map the literature on rehabilitation interventions for PSP, MSA, CBS, and DLB, summarize intervention types and outcomes, and identify research gaps. Methods Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library from inception to May 2025. Eligible studies included peer-reviewed English-language reports on non-invasive rehabilitation such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts, with disagreements resolved by consensus or a third reviewer. Results Sixty studies met inclusion criteria: PSP (n = 32), MSA (n = 20), CBS (n = 5), and DLB (n = 6). Across disorders, rehabilitation was consistently safe and feasible. Gait and balance training, voice and swallowing therapy, and multimodal programs demonstrated short-term benefits in mobility, speech, and quality of life (Class III–IV based on American Academy of Neurology classification). Conclusions While rehabilitation may offer functional benefits across atypical parkinsonian syndromes, high-quality evidence remains limited. This analysis highlights significant gaps in care and underscores the need for early, multidisciplinary, and disease-specific interventions to support mobility and safety. Standardized outcome measures and long-term trials are essential to establish sustained efficacy.
Hikaru Kamo, Satoru Amano, Isabelle K. Gerzenshtein et al.· Journal of Parkinson's Disea...· 0 citations
BACKGROUND
Standardized motor batteries are widely used to assess motor competence in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), although it remains unclear whether they consistently capture the domains most affected by the disorder.
AIMS
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the motor competence domains in which children and adolescents with DCD differ from their typically developing (TD) peers, as assessed through standardized motor batteries.
METHODS AND PROCEDURES
A systematic search was conducted in four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus) up to November 12, 2025. Methodological quality was evaluated using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.
OUTCOMES AND RESULTS
Thirty studies were included, comprising 3934 participants (1663 DCD groups and 2271 TD peers). Most studies used the MABC, with eight using the MABC-1 and 18 the MABC-2; two the TGMD-2, one the BOTMP, and one the KTK. Overall, children with DCD consistently demonstrated lower motor skills across all domains. However, the relative pattern of impairment across the various subdomains was not consistent, particularly in the MABC. Meta-analytic findings indicated that manual dexterity was relatively more affected in the MABC-1, whereas aiming and catching emerged as the relatively more affected domain in the MABC-2, in both DCD and TD groups.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
These findings suggest that standardized motor batteries are useful for operationalizing Criterion A, but their results should be interpreted cautiously and within a broader clinical and functional framework rather than as sufficient markers in isolation.
N. Blanco-Martínez, L. Delgado-Lobete, Carlos Ayán-Pérez et al.· Research in Developmental Di...· 0 citations
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