Motor abilities in Williams syndrome

​Motor difficulties are present across a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, impeding on the development of other domains and on overall quality of life. One population that show difficulties with their motor abilities are individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the motor profile of 20 individuals with WS, compared to 40 typically developing (TD) children aged 4-7 years, using the Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT2-SF; Bruininks and  Bruininks, 2005) short form.

Results indicate that the older children and adults with WS performed at the 4-5-year-old level with respect to overall motor ability. On examination of the motor profile, a relative strength in upper limb control and a relative weakness in balance were identified for this group. Overall, the results suggest that the motor problems that individuals with WS show in childhood persist in to older childhood and adulthood and, akin to the WS cognitive profile, there are relative strengths and weaknesses in the WS motor profile.