Objective To explore the assessment practices and identification of movement difficulties in autistic children aged 12 months to 6 years by physiotherapists in Australia.

Methods Registered physiotherapists providing services to autistic children ages 12 months − 6 years completed a survey. The survey was distributed via closed physiotherapy social media (Facebook) pages in Australia from March to June 2022. The survey included 8 items on strategies/approaches to assessment, 47 items on measurement, and 23 items on movement difficulties.

Results 85 physiotherapists completed the survey. Findings indicated that parent reports, observations, and movement analyses were the most commonly used assessment strategies employed 100% of time, followed by musculoskeletal assessments (80%) and standardized assessments (50%). Of standardized assessments used, Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was used most, by over 69% of physiotherapists, with multiple versions of five other standardized assessments used by over 52% of physiotherapists, namely Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Neurological Sensory Motor Developmental Assessment, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire and Test of Gross Motor Development. A range of movement difficulties were frequently identified in developmental delays (86% of time), gross motor (85%), coordination (82%), motor planning (81%), and hypotonia (80%).

Conclusions Physiotherapists in Australia use a variety of methods to examine movement difficulties in young autistic children, suggesting that this frequently occurs prior to autism diagnosis.