Is time a problem for children with autism as well as for children with specific language impairments?

This study was undertaken as a preliminary test of the hypothesis that where children with specific language impairment have problems in organizing and executing rapid fine movements, children with autism have problems in organizing their behaviour through more extended phases of time. A pre-school child with phonologic-syntactic specific language impairment and a pre-school child with autism were each paired with a sex-matched and age-matched control, and assessed on a range of tasks involving motor skills. It was predicted that the child with specific language impairment would be impaired relative to her control on tasks involving rapid fine movements, whether oral or manual; whereas the child with autism would be impaired relative to his control on tasks involving complex movements taking placing over more extended time-scales. The hypothesis received preliminary support.