This study found quality of letter formation in the handwriting of children with ASD to be lower than in normally developing children. The subject hasn't really been addressed since 2001, when Beversdorf et al identified the significant instance of macrographia in patients with ASD, as compared to age- and IQ-matched control subjects. Both studies have subsumed autism and Asperger into the ASD umbrella -- just as likely for the purposes of procuring a larger test subject sample as for making their results widely applicable:
"Whereas all subjects with autism spectrum disorder met the diagnostic criteria for autism through their reported behavior during childhood, most subjects had demonstrated significant improvement in function over time, such that the distinction between the various forms of autism spectrum disorder was not as clear. Therefore the more general term autism spectrum disorder is used to describe these patients." (Beversdorf)The original description of Asperger syndrome in 1944 noted difficulties in motor coordination, specifically in handwriting (Frith; translated 1991). One year before, Leo Kanner published his first paper asserting that some autistic children were quite agile, performing "hair-raising feats of balancing," while others were clumsy "despite dextrous manipulation of objects" (Frith pg. 95).
I would love to see a study comparing the different aspects of handwriting using both the Revised Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Sign (from the Kennedy Krieger Institute study), and the Autism Spectrum Quotient and Empathy Quotient tests used by Baron-Cohen's group to differentiate autism and Asperger syndrome. Any cerebellar distinctions between autism and Asperger could be very illuminating...
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