This study examined verbal mediation during planning in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to age- and nonverbal IQ- matched typically developing peers using a dual-task paradigm. Analyses showed no group differences in performance. However, in the condition intended to disrupt verbal mediation, language skills were…

This study examined conceptual relationships in semantic memory using an indirect priming technique in high-functioning autistic adolescents and controls. The autistic subjects and controls showed similar semantic priming effects. However, correlations with nonverbal cognitive measures for the autistic subjects suggests that semantic processing in…

Analysis of the conceptions of spatial relations, size comparisons, and gesture imitations of 16 autistic children (ages 6-14 years) with IQs over 70 indicated an inability to acquire concepts of size comparison and spatial relationships through verbal instructions, suggesting a cognitive deficit of impaired symbolic-representational functioning.…