Executive function predicts the development of play skills for verbal preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders
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Executive function and play skills develop in early childhood and are linked to cognitive and language ability. The present study examined these abilities longitudinally in two groups with autism spectrum disorder—a group with higher initial language (n = 30) and a group with lower initial language ability (n = 36). Among the lower language group, concurrent nonverbal cognitive ability contributed most to individual differences in executive function and play skills. For the higher language group, executive function during preschool significantly predicted play ability at age 6 over and above intelligence, but early play did not predict later executive function. These results suggested that factors related to the development of play and executive function differ for subgroups of children with different language abilities and that early executive function skills may be critical in order for verbal children with autism to develop play. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1274–1284. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Executive function at age 3 significantly predicts autistic children's pre-symbolic and symbolic play skills, which are precursory theory-of-mind skills, at age 6.
“Furthermore, EF at age 3 has also been shown to significantly predict autistic children's pre-symbolic and symbolic play skillsprecursory ToM skillsat age 6 (Faja et al. 2016).”
From Childhood Executive Function Predicts Later Autistic Features and Adaptive Behavior in Young Autistic People: a 12-Year Prospective Study (2019) · cites this paper as Faja et al. 2016
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- Authors
- Faja, S., Dawson, G., Sullivan, K., Meltzoff, A. N., Estes, A., & Bernier, R.
- Affiliations
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Pediatrics, and Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University Durham North Carolina
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Faja, Susan
- Venue
- Autism Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-02-18
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1274-1284
- ISSN
- 1939-3792 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-3806
- PMC
- PMC4990498
- OpenAlex
- W2282288274
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 3.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Autism Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Society for Research in Child Development
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (U54MH066399)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54HD083091, R00HD071966, K99HD071966)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Keywords
- executive function, play skills, autism spectrum disorder, preschool children, language skills, nonverbal cognitive ability, individual differences, longitudinal development, early childhood development
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Male, Play and Playthings, Executive Function
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