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Introduction: Recent research proposes problems with action planning as part of atypical motor functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), although findings are inconsistent. This study investigated relations between action planning and movement performance in 6-year-old children with and without ASD.

Patients and methods: 3D kinematic recordings of preferred arm/hand performance on a sequential peg rotation task with varying complexity of goal insertion (four endpoints and either visual or occluded goal display at onset) were conducted in 6 children with ASD (M_Age = 6.4) and 6 typically developing (TD) controls (M_Age = 6.5).

Results: Analyses revealed significant (p < .05) group and task-endpoint differences for movement segmentation (number of movement units, MUs) and 3D movement distance. Children with ASD generally displayed more MUs and longer distances than controls and all children showed increased MUs and movement distance on more complex task-endpoints. TD controls showed significantly shorter movement initiation latency (MIL) durations than ASD in the visual condition and evidently longer MILs in the occluded than visual condition. In contrast, no difference between goal display conditions was shown for the ASD group.

Conclusion: Children with ASD generally had longer movement distances and more segmented movements than controls, suggesting less efficient movement performance. Movement performance was not evidently affected by goal display condition in either group. However, the lack of MIL differences between goal display conditions within the ASD group indicates reduced pre-planning, possibly affecting movement execution efficiency.