If you ever need to justify why children with autism need occupational or physical therapy, don't forget to include the benefits that improvements in motor skill development has on socialization. Recent research looked at young children's scores on the Battelle Developmental Inventory–Second Edition for gross and fine motor skills. The Baby and Infant Screen for Children with Autism Traits, Part 1 was used to assess socialization. The results indicated that children with higher gross motor skill levels exhibited less social impairments.
Reference: Megan Sipes, Johnny L. Matson, Max Horovitz Autism spectrum disorders and motor skills: The effect on socialization as measured by the Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits (BISCUIT) Developmental Neurorehabilitation Oct 2011, Vol. 14, No. 5: 290–296.
Reference: Megan Sipes, Johnny L. Matson, Max Horovitz Autism spectrum disorders and motor skills: The effect on socialization as measured by the Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits (BISCUIT) Developmental Neurorehabilitation Oct 2011, Vol. 14, No. 5: 290–296.