Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects communication, social interaction, and can impact motor skills. Children with ASD may exhibit clinically relevant motor deficits, compromising daily activities such as grasping objects and writing. These limitations can affect functionality, thereby reducing autonomy and social participation. Functionality, understood as the ability to perform daily tasks independently, is often associated with fine motor skills. However, the relationship between manual performance and functionality in children and adolescents with ASD has not been sufficiently explored in the literature.

To associate the functionality of daily activities with the manual performance of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A cross-sectional, quantitative study that was submitted to and approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The study included children and adolescents aged 6 to 15 years, of both sexes, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, classified as support level I or II, who have normal or corrected vision and do not present movement restrictions in the upper limbs. To assess functionality, the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory - Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT) was used and applied with the parents, and to evaluate manual performance, the Block Design Test was conducted with the children.

The data were presented as mean and standard deviation. Normality was initially observed through the Shapiro-Wilk test. To associate manual performance with the functionality of daily activities, Pearson correlation tests were conducted. The data were organized using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0, with a significance level set at p < 0.05. The correlation between manual performance and the functionality of daily activities did not show a significant difference for the association between performance with the right hand and daily activities [r = 0.17, p = 0.57], while the association between performance with the left hand and daily activities was [r = -0.02, p = 0.96].

This study did not find a significant association between manual performance and the functionality of daily activities in children and adolescents with ASD. These results suggest that other factors, such as sensory and cognitive aspects, may influence the functionality of this population. Future research should investigate these variables, as well as include larger samples and longitudinal analyses, in order to better understand the determinants of functionality and manual performance in children and adolescents with ASD.

Despite the findings, it is important to consider that the sample size was relatively small (n = 14), which may have influenced the results and limited the generalization of the data. Nevertheless, these results may guide more effective interventions in physical therapy, education, and social inclusion for children and adolescents with ASD.