Postural Control in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: What are the Most Striking Specificities and How Can They be Quantified?
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025-04-18; :
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-025-06815-x
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Fradet L(1), Benchekri A(2)(3), Tisserand R(2)(3), Cazalets JR(4), Amestoy A(4),
Lemonnier E(5), Cottenceau H(6), Yentes JM(7), Bidet-Ildei C(3)(8).
Author information:
(1)Université de Poitiers, ISAE-ENSMA, CNRS, PPrime, Poitiers, France.
.
(2)Université de Poitiers, ISAE-ENSMA, CNRS, PPrime, Poitiers, France.
(3)Université de Poitiers, Université de Tours, CNRS, CeRCA, Poitiers, France.
(4)Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, UMR 5287, INCIA, Bordeaux, France.
(5)Centre Ressources Autisme, University Hospital, Limoges, France.
(6)Department of Child Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier, La Rochelle, France.
(7)Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX, USA.
(8)Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
Autistic children (AT) are known to exhibit distinct postural control patterns
compared to neurotypical (NT) children. However, identifying and interpreting
these differences can be complex due to the wide range of variables used to
analyse Centre of Pressure (CoP) trajectories. This study aims to elucidate the
specific characteristics of postural control in AT children by identifying the
most discriminative CoP variables that distinguish them from NT children. The
study evaluated 24 AT and 24 NT children while they stood on a force plate for
30 s under three conditions: eyes open (EO), eyes closed (EC), and the feet on a
foam pad with eyes open (EOF). A total of 75 variables-including frequential,
linear, and non-linear variables-were extracted from the CoP trajectory. These
variables, expressed as the rate of change between the EC and EOF conditions
relative to the EO condition, were compared between the AT and NT groups. A
best-subsets approach was used to identify the most discriminative variables,
and Pearson correlations were calculated to assess their relationship with age
and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores. Of the 75 variables analysed, 15
showed significant differences between the AT and NT groups. The best-subsets
analysis and the correlations revealed that variables such as the rate of change
between the EOF and EO conditions, and the root mean square of the trembling
component of the CoP trajectory, were particularly discriminative. Autistic
children demonstrated a more rigid and regular CoP trajectory, particularly in
the EO condition, compared to NT children. These findings suggest that AT
children have greater difficulty integrating multisensory information and an
increased reliance on supraspinal processes for postural control.
© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business
Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-025-06815-x
PMID: 40249409
Conflict of interest statement: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors
declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this
paper.