ArticleAutism : the international journal of research and practice2025
The long-lasting benefits of pre-kindergarten education on autistic children's working memory development.
Article in Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Characterizing service receipt among families of young autistic children from low-resourced communities.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2026Article
- A literature-informed Delphi framework for pediatric medication science books.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- The relationship between 24-h Movement Behaviors and executive function in children aged 3-6 years: The mediating and moderating roles of fundamental movement skills.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
lay abstractWorking memory is an important skill for school success, and it involves holding information in our memory while using it to solve complex problems. However, autistic children often have difficulties with working memory tasks. Also, kindergarteners on the autism spectrum tend to be less school-ready compared with their peers. In addition, children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to struggle more with working memory and school readiness skills. All preschool-age children on the autism spectrum in the United States are entitled to pre-kindergarten (pre-K) education. However, it is unclear whether attending pre-K helps with children's working memory development in the long run. This study tested whether attending pre-K benefits children's working memory development in the long run. It also tested whether pre-K is especially helpful for autistic children's working memory development. It was found that children who attended pre-K outperformed their peers who did not attend pre-K during the first 2 years of elementary school. However, after first grade, such benefits diminished. Importantly, autistic children who attended pre-K did not demonstrate advanced working memory immediately in kindergarten, but they started to outperform their autistic peers who did not attend pre-K during first grade to third grade. This finding highlights the importance of pre-K education for autistic children in particular. It is also important for educators and parents to understand autistic children's unique learning paths that may be different from non-autistic children. This article discusses specific ways for educators to take full advantage of the long-lasting benefits of pre-K education in autistic children's working memory development.
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Registered trials
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