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Executive Functions and Symptom Severity in an Italian Sample of Intellectually Able Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

A novel battery (BAFE; Valeri et al. 2015) was used in order to assess three executive function (EF) abilities (working memory, inhibition and shifting) in a sample of 27 intellectually able preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with 27 typically developing children matched on age and nonverbal IQ. Differences in EF skills were analyzed in participants with distinct ASD symptom severity. Children with ASD performed worse than typical controls on both set-shifting and inhibition, but not on visuo-spatial working memory. Additionally, children with more severe ASD symptoms showed a worse performance on inhibition than children with milder symptoms. These results confirm the presence of EF deficits and highlight a link between ASD symptoms and EF impairments in preschool age.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Piazza Sant’Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni Valeri, Laura Casula, Eleonora Napoli, Barbara Trimarco & Stefano Vicari

  2. Azienda Sanitaria Locale ROMA 2, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Stievano

  3. Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Teresa Gloria Scalisi

Authors
  1. Giovanni Valeri
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  2. Laura Casula
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  3. Eleonora Napoli
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  4. Paolo Stievano
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  5. Barbara Trimarco
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  6. Stefano Vicari
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  7. Teresa Gloria Scalisi
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Contributions

GV, LC, EN, PS, BT, SV, and TGS have made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, have been involved in drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content and have given final approval of the version to be published.

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Correspondence to Barbara Trimarco.

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Valeri, G., Casula, L., Napoli, E. et al. Executive Functions and Symptom Severity in an Italian Sample of Intellectually Able Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3207–3215 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04102-0

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