Planning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Verbal Mediation
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Planning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Verbal Mediation Caroline Larson1,2 · Ishanti Gangopadhyay3 · Kathryn Prescott1,2 · Margarita Kaushanskaya1,2 · Susan Ellis Weismer1,2,4
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study examined verbal mediation during planning in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to age- and nonverbal IQ- matched typically developing peers using a dual-task paradigm. Analyses showed no group differences in performance. However, in the condition intended to disrupt verbal mediation, language skills were associated with planning performance for the TD group, but not the ASD group. Upon examining ASD subgroups with versus without comorbid structural language impairment, children with ASD and normal language appeared to rely on verbal mediation to a greater degree than children with ASD and language impairment, but to a lesser degree than TD peers. Thus, the role of verbal mediation in planning for children with ASD differs depending on language status. Keywords Autism spectrum disorder · Executive function · Planning · Language
Introduction Executive function (EF) refers to a set of cognitive processes involved in goal-directed behavior that are linked to long-term academic, social, and emotional outcomes (Best et al. 2011; Blair 2002; Friedman et al. 2007; Moffitt et al. 2011; Riggs et al. 2003; Simonds et al. 2007). Deficits in EF have been extensively documented in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Edgin and Pennington 2005; Ellis Weismer et al. 2018; Kenworthy et al. 2008; Landa and Goldberg 2005; Ozonoff et al. 1991; but see Bogte et al. 2009). In fact, individual differences in EF ability predict * Susan Ellis Weismer [email protected] 1
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705, USA
2
Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705, USA
3
Present Address: Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Organization Indiana University-Bloomington, 200 South Jordan Avenue, Room C175, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
4
Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Room 473, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53705, USA
school readiness (Pellicano et al. 2017), and long-term social and behavioral outcomes in children with ASD (Vogan et al. 2018). Complex EF tasks, like planning, appear to be especially problematic for children with ASD (Diamond 2013; Joseph et al. 2005; Unterrainer et al. 2016), potentially due to diminished use of language to regulate goal-directed behavior (Holland and Low 2010; Joseph et al. 2005; Marcovitch and Zelazo 2009; Wallace et al. 2009). According to the Hierarchical Competing Systems Model (Marcovitch and Zelazo 2009; Zelazo 2004), language in the form of verbal mediation (i.e., inner speech, self-talk) supports and facilitates higher-order executive function skills. Consistent with this view, res
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