title: Handedness in autistics, retardates, and normals of a wide age range.
abstract: Tests of handedness were carried out with 34 autistic children aged from 4 years 10 months to 18 years 11 months, and with sex-, age-, and IQ-matched retardates and sex- and age-matched normals. There were no significant differences between the groups on frequency of handedness, degree of righthand usage, or degree of dominant-hand usage. There was however a significant increase in the variance of dominant-hand usage from normals and retardates to autistics. These results were taken to indicate that earlier reports of handedness differences in young autistic children may reflect a developmental lag rather than a specific etiology of autism. Some support for this hypothesis was found from a comparison of age-trends between the groups. The relationship of such a developmental delay to the etiology of autism was discussed.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis