ArticleJournal of abnormal child psychology2019
Childhood Executive Function Predicts Later Autistic Features and Adaptive Behavior in Young Autistic People: a 12-Year Prospective Study.
Article in Journal of abnormal child psychology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Bumetanide on Neurocognitive Functioning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2024Trial
- Preservation of Higher-Order Cognition in Autistic Females: Evidence from Two Deeply-Phenotyped Cohorts in Hong Kong and the United States.Research square · 2026Article
- The Unique Roles of Executive Function in Co-Occurring Psychopathologies in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Article
- Efficacy of executive function training in preschool children with ASD: a randomized controlled trial.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Profiles of parent-teacher discrepancy on autistic children's adaptive functioning.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Study protocol for a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial of two interventions for autistic and non-autistic youth in children's mental health settings: one tailored for neurodivergence and one universal.Implementation science communications · 2025Article
- Everyday Executive Function in Preschoolers with Autism and Links with Intellectual Functioning, Adaptive Behavior, and Autism Symptoms.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Executive Function and Social Cognition Performance Predicts Social Difficulty for Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Mind the Gap: Executive Function Is Associated with the Discrepancy Between Cognitive and Adaptive Functioning in Autistic Children Without Cognitive Delay.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Autistic Traits and Emotion Dysregulation in 5-11-Year-Old Intellectually Able Children With Autism Spectrum Condition: Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- The canonical correlation between executive function and social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder and potential pathways to physical fitness.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Predictors of Adaptive Functioning in Emerging Adults with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- Effects of Difficulties in Executive Functions on Behavioral and Adaptive Problems in Italian Autistic Preschoolers.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2024Article
- Sport and Autism: What Do We Know so Far? A Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Review
- Association between Motor Skills, Occupational Performance, and Mental Health in Japanese Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Correlational Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Evidence-Based Interventions in Autism.Pediatric clinics of North America · 2024Review
- Sex as a Moderator Between Parent Ratings of Executive Dysfunction and Social Difficulties in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Article
- Virtual Reality Training of Social Skills in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Examination of Acceptability, Usability, User Experience, Social Skills, and Executive Functions.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Brief Report: An Exploration of Cognitive Flexibility of Autistic Adolescents with Low Intelligence Using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Longitudinal studies of autistic people show that the behavioral features of autism generally endure into adulthood. Yet the prognostic indicators remain far from certain, especially for cognitively able individuals. Here, we test the predictive power of specific cognitive skills, namely theory of mind and executive function, measured in childhood, on young people's autistic features and adaptive behavior 12 years later. Twenty-eight young autistic people (2 female) were seen twice within the space of 12 years. At Time 1 (M = 5 years; 7 months, SD = 11 months), participants were assessed on components of executive function (planning, inhibition and cognitive flexibility) and theory of mind (false-belief understanding). At Time 2, 12 years later (M = 17 years 10 months, SD = 1 year; 2 months), we measured participants' autistic features and adaptive behavior. Only Time 1 executive function skills predicted significant variance in autistic adolescents' autistic features, over and above variance attributable to early age, intellectual ability and theory of mind skills. Furthermore, early EF skills, in addition to early verbal ability and nonverbal ability, predicted significant variance in young people's adaptive behavior at the 12-year follow-up. These long-term longitudinal findings clearly demonstrate that executive function measured in early childhood has prognostic significance in a sample of young autistic people approaching emerging adulthood and underscore their importance as a key target for early intervention and support.
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Registered trials
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