This study aimed to characterize the relationship between insistence on sameness (IS), executive functioning (EF) and anxiety among individuals with "PTEN" mutations and individuals with macrocephalic ASD. The sample included 38 individuals with "PTEN" mutation and ASD diagnosis ("PTEN"-ASD; M[subscript age] =…

Are Autism Quotient (AQ) scores related to executive functioning (EF)? We sampled 200 students of normal intelligence and examined the relationship between AQ scores and: (a) 5 self-ratings of EF, (b) 5 performance-based measures of EF, and (c) 5 types of activities or experiences that are assumed to recruit EF and sometimes enhance EF. Our…

This study examined the cognitive correlates of reciprocity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 59 children with ASD were assessed with the Interactive Drawing Task, Theory of Mind Task Battery, Children's Card Change Sort Task, and Children's Gambling Task respectively for their reciprocity, theory of mind, cool executive…

Despite average or above cognitive and verbal abilities, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties in functional and social communication. Executive functioning (EF) may be the cognitive and regulatory mechanism that underlies these difficulties. Parents rated 92 children with ASD as demonstrating significantly more…

Autistic people have difficulties recalling episodic memories, including retrieving fewer or less specific and detailed memories compared to typically developing people. However, the ability to effectively recall episodic memories is crucial in many real-world contexts, such as the criminal justice system, medical consultations, and employment…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with deficient comprehension of figurative language and, specifically, idioms. Theories ascribe this to deficits in specific abilities (e.g., Theory of Mind [ToM]; executive functions [EF]; general language skills), but no comprehensive theory has resulted. This study investigated the differential…

Longitudinal growth modeling was utilized to examine adaptive behavior over eight years across the three time points (i.e., ages 2-10). Seventy-six parents completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales interviews of adaptive behavior. Child participants completed standardized developmental testing and an executive function task in toddlerhood…

Social communication and executive functioning challenges as well as co-occurring anxiety/depression may make acquiring the skills needed to manage daily life tasks difficult for diploma-track autistic youth, thus limiting their participation in adult roles. This study describes the associations between executive function, social communication…

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for high stress levels. Multiple child factors have been identified as predictors of stress in parents of children with ASD, but factors associated with stress in parents of children with ASD and comorbid intellectual disability (ASD-ID) are not well understood. This study…

The present investigation explored long-term relationships of behavioral symptoms of adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities with the mental health of their mothers. Fragile X premutation carrier mothers of an adolescent or adult child with fragile X syndrome (n = 95), and mothers of a grown child with autism (n = 213) were…

Although executive functioning (EF) difficulties are well documented among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), little is known about real-world measures of EF among adults with ASD. Therefore, this study examined parent-reported real-world EF problems among 35 adults with ASD without intellectual disability and their…

Little is known about the relation between cognitive processes and imagination and whether this relation differs between neurotypically developing children and children with autism. To address this issue, we administered a cognitive task battery and Karmiloff-Smith's drawing task, which requires children to draw imaginative people and houses. For…

Reading comprehension is a complex interactional process whereby the accumulated meaning of sounds, words, and sentences is integrated to form a meaningful representation of text. It is well established that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reading comprehension difficulties, but less is understood about the underlying…

This study characterizes longitudinal change in adaptive behavior in 64 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability evaluated on multiple occasions, and examines whether prior estimate of executive function (EF) problems predicts future adaptive behavior scores. Compared to standardized estimates…

Previously, a total of 121 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed an adaptive working memory (WM)-training, an adaptive flexibility-training, or a non-adaptive control (mock)-training. Despite overall improvement, there were minor differences between the adaptive and mock-training conditions. Moreover, dropout was relatively…