Executive dysfunction in autism

‘Executive function’ is an umbrella term for functions such as planning, working memory, impulse control, inhibition and mental flexibility, as well as for the initiation and monitoring of action. The primacy of executive dysfunction in autism is a topic of much debate, as are recent attempts to examine subtypes of executive function within autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders that are considered to implicate frontal lobe function. This article will review cognitive behavioural studies of planning, mental flexibility and inhibition in autism. It is concluded that more detailed research is needed to fractionate the executive system in autism by assessing a wide range of executive functions as well as their neuroanatomical correlates in the same individuals across the lifespan

The importance of motor skill in general development

Commentary on paper published by L. Hill et al. (2010). Exercising attention within the classroom, in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. The intervention study by Hill et al. provides an important basis on which to consider further the idea not only of the beneficial effects of exercise on cognitive achievement, but also of how best to provide exercise opportunities to those children who need them most. While in the past we might have assumed that this applied to those who do not access physical exercise out of school, it is becoming increasingly clear that physical exercise, as well as motor development more generally, is closely related to physical and mental health, as well as to cognitive achievement. Considering first the impact of motor development, it is now evident that even within the first months of life motor development is closely associated with language development

Non-specific nature of specific language impairment: a review of the literature with regard to concomitant motor impairments

In the light of emerging suggestions that language and motor deficits may co-occur, the literature on specific language impairment (SLI) was reviewed to investigate the prevalence of co-morbidity between SLI and poor limb motor skill in children diagnosed with language mpairments. An extensive literature search was undertaken and the subsequent findings evaluated with particular reference to issues surrounding symptom co-occurrence, as well as to theoretical and aetiological accounts of SLI. Clearly substantial co-morbidity exists between SLI and poor motor skill, suggesting that SLI is not a specific disorder of language, but rather that children with SLI experience a broader range of diYculties, of which motor incoordination is one. Current theoretical explanations of SLI do not account fully for such wide-ranging diYculties and it may be useful in the future to focus on a more detailed explanation in terms of shared cognitive processes or neuromaturational delay to understand further the nature of the disorder, to explain it theoretically and to deal with it practically

The planning and organisation of action and activities of daily living in developmental coordination disorder

By the time typical children reach infant school they have in place key movement skills such as running, hopping, jumping, throwing, kicking and writing (Gallahue & Ozmun, 1995; Haywood & Getchell, 2001). While these skills will continue to be refined throughout childhood, they reveal that children possess sophisticated movement planning, organisation and execution skills even at this young age. In this chapter the potential cognitive explanations for developmental coordination disorder, a disorder in which movement skill does not develop in the typical way, will be reviewed, and, where possible, studies will be considered in terms of their parallels to activities of daily living

The development of hand preference in children: The effect of task demands and links with manual dexterity

Lateralisation of hand preference and manual dexterity are known to develop over childhood, while in adulthood strength of hand preference has been shown to interact with extrinsic task demands. Some evidence exists to suggest that strength of hand preference and motor skill may be related. In the current study a handedness inventory, midline crossing (QHP) and peg-moving tasks were used to investigate: (1) the development of hand preference between 4 and 11 years; (2) whether extrinsic task demands affect strength of hand preference, and (3) whether strength of hand preference was associated with manual dexterity. Younger children (4–5 years) showed weak hand preference in comparison to older children (8–11 years), and extrinsic task demands influenced willingness to cross the body’s midline with the preferred hand. Age and peg-moving speed were associated with midline crossing in certain task conditions. Overall, results suggest a coupling between manual dexterity and brain maturation in typical development

Movement difficulties in children

The development of adequate motor control and coordination is an important part of general development, allowing an infant to interact with and learn about the world around them and making possible so many everyday activities for children - at home, at school and at play. We know that severe neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy can have devastating effects on movement. Bugt the effects of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are perhaps less well known. What is our current understanding of the nature and impact of this condition? And how might psychologists help

The development of interpersonal strategy: Autism, theory-of-mind, cooperation and fairness

Mentalising is assumed to be involved in decision-making that is necessary to social interaction. We investigated the relationship between mentalising and three types of strategic games - Prisoners' Dilemma, Dictator and Ultimatum - in children with and without autistic spectrum disorders. Overall, the results revealed less dramatic differences than expected among the normally developing age groups and the children with autism, suggesting that in these laboratory tasks, mentalising skills are not always necessary. There were, nonetheless, some important findings. Young children were more cautious about initiating cooperation than their older peers and, in bargaining situations, they were less generous in their opening unilateral grants and over-solicitous of an empowered receiver. Participants with autism did have a harder time shifting strategy between versions of the Prisoners' Dilemma, and they were much more likely to accept low initial offers in the Ultimatum game and to refuse fair proposals. In addition, participants' measured mentalising abilities explain intentional and strategic behaviour within the prisoners' dilemma and the avoidance of unsuccessful ultimatum proposals

Action-monitoring and Intention Reporting in Children with Autism

The “mindblindness” theory of core cognitive impairment in autism and at least one of the executive theories of the core cognitive deficit both predict that children with autism should find it difficult to report what their intention was when it diverged from an outcome. The former predicts this because it takes intention reporting to require a “theory of mind” and the latter predicts it because the theory posits an impairment in the monitoring of goal-directed actions. The latter also predicts impairments in the ability to monitor basic actions. Our three studies failed to support either of these views. Experiment 1 demonstrated intact abilities in the monitoring of basic actions (detecting which stimulus of a number of stimuli one is controlling). Experiment 2 demonstrated intact abilities in reporting an intention, both for self and for another agent, when the outcome was unintended but desired. In Experiment 3, using the novel “transparent intentions task”, we found (with a minor qualification) intact ability in reporting on nonballistic intended actions when the result that the action achieved was unexpected. The implications of these results for views of the relation between theory of mind and executive difficulties in autism are discussed

The validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Purpose. – The current paper focused on the validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). To assess this we sought responses to two alexithymia self-reports and a depression self-report at two time points from adults with and without ASD. Materials and methods. – An initial sample of 27 adults withASD and 35 normal adults completed the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20), the Bermond and Vorst alexithymia questionnaire-form B (BVAQ-B), and the Beck depression inventory (BDI), at test time 1. Of these individuals, 19 ASD and 29 controls participated again after a period ranging from 4 to 12 months. Results. – ASD participants were able to report about their own emotions using self-reports. BVAQ-B showed reasonable convergent validity and test–retest reliability in both groups. Scores on both alexithymia scales were stable across the two participant groups. However, results revealed that although the TAS-20 total score discriminated between the two groups at both time points, the BVAQ-B total score did not. Moreover, the TAS-20 showed stronger test–retest reliability than the BVAQ-B. Conclusion. – ASD participants appeared more depressed and more alexithymic than the controls. The use of the BVAQ-B, as an additional assessment of alexithymia, indicated that ASD patients have a specific type of alexithymia characterised by increased difficulties in the cognitive domain rather than the affective aspects of alexithymia