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Executive Functions in Young Children with Autism
Author(s) -
Griffith Elizabeth M.,
Pennington Bruce F.,
Wehner Elizabeth A.,
Rogers Sally J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00059
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , nonverbal communication , executive functions , developmental psychology , executive dysfunction , developmental disorder , cognition , psychiatry , neuropsychology
The executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism has received support from most studies of older people with autism; however, studies of young children have produced mixed results. Two studies are presented that compare the performance of preschoolers with autism ( mean = 51 months/4.3 years of age) to a control group matched on age, and verbal and nonverbal ability. The first study ( n = 18 autism and 17 control) found no group differences in performance on 8 executive function tasks (A not B, Object Retrieval, A not B with Invisible Displacement, 3‐Boxes Stationary and Scrambled, 6‐Boxes Stationary and Scrambled, and Spatial Reversal), but did find that children with autism initiated fewer joint attention and social interaction behaviors. The second (longitudinal) study of a subset of the children ( n = 13 autism and 11 control) from the first study found that neither groups' performance on Spatial Reversal changed significantly over the course of a year. The results of these studies pose a serious challenge to the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism.