Do motor difficulties really explain speech/language difficulties in autism?

(Cross-posted at FacilitatedCommunicaton.org).

This post is the fifth in a series of critiques of articles co-authored by Morton Gernsbacher. As I noted earlier, these articles collectively attempt to present evidence for the drastic redefinition of autism upon which the plausibility of FC depends: namely, the notion that autism is not (despite eight decades of research to the contrary) a socio-cognitive disorder, but rather a motor disorder. More specifically, autism is, purportedly, a disorder in which intentional motor movements, including speaking and pointing, are difficult or impossible to perform.

Today’s Gernsbacher article, “Infant and toddler oral- and manual-motor skills predict later speech fluency in autism,” relates more directly to the motor take on autism than the articles I have discussed already.