SynthesisArchives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists2024
Cognitive Profile in Autism and ADHD: A Meta-Analysis of Performance on the WAIS-IV and WISC-V.
Synthesis in Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- In Search of Subtypes of Children With Developmental Disabilities Using the WISC-V: A Latent Profile Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Cognitive heterogeneity and clinical outcomes in adolescent psychiatric inpatients: a data-driven study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Clinical Heterogeneity Among Preschoolers Recruited as Infants Due to Elevated Likelihood of Autism: A Sibling Study.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- A Study on the Intervention Effect of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Model in Serious Games for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Visual Exploration and Construction Strategies Underlying Performance in the Block Design Task in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Comparison of the K-WPPSI-IV Profiles Between Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Retrospective Study.Psychiatry investigation · 2026Article
- Expanding Understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Girls and Women: A New Paradigm.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Beyond Comorbidity: Evolutionary Insights Into the Concomitance of Neurodivergence, Major Depressive Disorder, and Anxiety Disorders.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Cognitive Profile of Autism and Intellectual Disorder in Wechsler's Scales: Meta-Analysis.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Review
- Sex/gender differences in autistic traits, intelligence and executive functions of school-aged autistic children without intellectual disability.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Article
- Cognitive and emotional profiles in children with ASD, ADHD, and comorbid presentations: evidence for a distinct clinical phenotype.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The effects of VR-based multi-task sensorimotor intervention on motor performance in children with ADHD and DCD comorbidity.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Does WISC-V scatter matter when it comes to academic achievement in neurodevelopmental disorders? It depends.Applied neuropsychology. Child · 2025Article
- Mini-Basketball for Preschool and School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Boosting Working Memory in ADHD: Adaptive Dual N-Back Training Enhances WAIS-IV Performance, but Yields Mixed Corsi Outcomes.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- The value of intellectual structural imbalance in the differentiation of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Preliminary results of the EPIDIA4Kids study on brain function in children: multidimensional ADHD-related symptomatology screening using multimodality biometry.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePrevious research has suggested that neurodevelopmental conditions may be associated with distinctive cognitive profiles on the Wechsler intelligence tests (of which the most recent editions are the WAIS-IV and WISC-V). However, the extent to which a cognitive profile can be reliably identified for individuals meeting criteria for autism or ADHD remains unclear. The present review investigated this issue.
methodA search was conducted in PsycInfo, Embase, and Medline in October 2022 for papers reporting the performance of children or adults diagnosed with autism or ADHD on the WAIS-IV or the WISC-V. Test scores were aggregated using meta-analysis.
resultsScores were analyzed from over 1,800 neurodivergent people reported across 18 data sources. Autistic children and adults performed in the typical range for verbal and nonverbal reasoning, but scored ~1 SD below the mean for processing speed and had slightly reduced scores on working memory. This provides evidence for a "spiky" cognitive profile in autism. Performance of children and adults with ADHD was mostly at age-expected levels, with slightly reduced scores for working memory.
conclusionAlthough the pattern of performance on the Wechsler tests is not sufficiently sensitive or specific to use for diagnostic purposes, autism appears to be associated with a cognitive profile of relative strengths in verbal and nonverbal reasoning and a weakness in processing speed. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder appears less associated with a particular cognitive profile. Autistic individuals may especially benefit from a cognitive assessment to identify and support with their strengths and difficulties.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.