Can Bilingualism Mitigate Set-Shifting Difficulties in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders?

May combine two claims.

Four of 10 monolingual ASD participants and 3 of 10 bilingual ASD participants met criteria for language impairment.

“Four of 10 participants in the monolingual ASD group and 3 of 10 participants in the bilingual ASD group met criteria for language impairment as indicated by scores 1 SD below the mean on the recalling sentences subtest.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Children in both ASD groups seemed more motivated and engaged with the computerized task than their typically developing peers, with some verbally expressing high enjoyment and wanting to continue.

“In addition, children in both ASD groups seemed more motivated and engaged with the computerized task than did their TYP peers; some of them verbally expressed high levels of enjoyment and even wanted to continue”

May combine two claims.

For DCCS reaction time switch cost, the main effect of diagnostic group was not significant, although there was a trend for typically developing groups to be faster than ASD groups.

“The main effect of diagnostic group was not significant, F(1, 33) = 2.97, p = .09,partial η 2 = .08,although a trend was observed in which the TYP groups were faster than the groups with ASD.”

May combine two claims.

The ASD group's set-shifting scores fell in the executive-dysfunction range, but their working-memory scores did not.

“However, while set-shifting scores of children with ASD were in the executive dysfunction range, this was not the case for working memory scores, replicating the finding that set-shifting is a peak area of difficulty in ASD (Gioia et al., 2002, Granader et al., 2014).”

May combine two claims.

In the verbal fluency task, bilingual ASD children produced more words overall than monolingual ASD children, but did not switch more between semantic clusters.

“On the verbal fluency task bilinguals outperformed monolinguals with ASD in the total number of words produced, but not on switching between semantic clusters of words.”

• cites Gonzalez-Barrero & Nadig, 2017bNot checked yet

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May combine two claims.

The ASD participants were of school age without intellectual disability; seven of the 20 met research criteria for language impairment.

“Our participants with ASD were school-age and did not have intellectual delay, with 7/20 meeting research criteria for language impairment.”

May combine two claims.

Using a short, simple computerized task with explicit rules and low social demands, the study found a bilingual set-shifting advantage in ASD.

“We detected a bilingual advantage in set-shifting in children with ASD using a relatively brief and simple computerized task that reduced social demands and provided explicit rules.”

May combine two claims.

Bilingualism's effect on executive function in ASD was selective, favoring an experimental set-shifting task but not verbal working memory.

“The effect of bilingualism on EF in ASD was selective: there was an advantage on an experimental task of set-shifting but not for verbal working memory.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Other researchers have failed to find significant differences between monolingual and bilingual groups on executive function tasks.

“whereas others have failed to find significant differences between monolingual and bilingual groups”

• cites Morton & Harper, 2007Not checked yet

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• cites Namazi & Thordardottir, 2010Not checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Some researchers have reported enhanced performance on executive function tasks for typically-developing bilingual children.

“A number of researchers have reported enhanced performance on EF tasks for typically-developing bilingual children”

• cites Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009Not checked yet

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• cites Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008 sourceNot checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Set-shifting skills are involved when active and proficient bilinguals exert control over their two linguistic systems to continuously switch between two competing languages.

“In particular, set-shifting skills are involved when (active and proficient) bilinguals exert control over their two linguistic systems to continuously switch between two competing languages to successfully meet the demands of their communication context”

• cites Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

The four groups did not differ significantly on nonverbal IQ, chronological age, maternal education, or gender.

“a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted confirming no significant difference between groups on the following five characteristics: NVIQ (NVIQ > 80), chronological age (6 to 9 years), maternal education as a proxy for socio-economic status (mothers from all groups had attained at least a high-school degree), and gender”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Dichter et al. (2010) reported that participants with ASD performed similarly to typically-developing comparison group on key measures of switching.

“These authors reported that participants with ASD performed similarly to the typically-developing comparison group on key measures of switching”

• cites Dichter et al., 2010Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

By school age, approximately half of children with ASD were language impaired, a quarter had borderline skills, and a quarter scored in the normal range or above.

“One study found that by school age approximately half of children with ASD were language impaired as assessed by standardized tests, a quarter had borderline skills within two standard deviations of the normal range, and the last quarter scored in the normal range or above”

• cites Kjelgaard & Tager-Flusberg, 2001Not checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Some researchers have reported that typically-developing bilinguals exhibit advantages in particular executive functions relative to monolinguals.

“Some researchers have reported that typically-developing bilinguals exhibit advantages in particular executive functions relative to monolinguals”

• cites Bialystok & Martin, 2004Not checked yet

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• cites Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Overall, children with ASD exhibit an uneven profile in executive function abilities, with consistent impairments on set-shifting alongside relatively preserved verbal working memory for simple tasks.

“Overall, children with ASD exhibit an uneven profile in their EF abilities, with consistent impairments on set-shifting skills alongside relatively preserved verbal working memory for simple tasks”

• cites Faja & Dawson, 2014Not checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

ASD diagnosis was confirmed by formal clinical diagnosis and by SCQ scores.

“They all had a formal clinical diagnosis obtained from licensed clinicians or multidisciplinary groups from health care institutions and parents were asked to provide a copy of the diagnostic report to confirm the participant's status.”

• Also stated in: § Method Participants · plain

  “the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ; Rutter, Bailey, & Lord, 2003) was used to confirm ASD symptoms.”

• cites Rutter, Bailey, & Lord, 2003Not checked yet

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• AssumptionRests on an assumption: A score of 15 or higher on the SCQ is consistent with a diagnosis of ASD.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The ongoing practice of switching between languages is thought to yield global advantages in set-shifting observable in non-linguistic domains.

“The ongoing practice of switching between languages is thought to yield global advantages in setshifting that can be observed in non-linguistic domains”

• cites Bialystok et al., 2009Not checked yet

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• cites Green, 1998Not checked yet

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• cites Prior & MacWhinney, 2010Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Performance on simple verbal working memory tasks, such as word recall and digit recall, has been shown to be unimpaired in individuals with ASD.

“In contrast, performance on simple verbal working memory tasks, such as word recall (e.g., Russell, Jarrold, & Henry, 1996) and digit recall (Bennetto, Pennington, & Rogers, 1996;Faja & Dawson, 2014;Williams et al., 2005;Williams et al., 2006), has been shown to be unimpaired.”

• cites Russell et al., 1996 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Bennetto et al., 1996 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Faja & Dawson, 2014Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Individuals with ASD perform better on a given task when presented by computer rather than live administration by an experimenter, whereas typically-developing comparison groups perform similarly across modalities.

“multiple studies have reported that individuals with ASD perform better on a given task when presented by computer rather than live administration by an experimenter, whereas typically-developing comparison groups perform similarly across modalities”

• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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• cites Ozonoff, 1995 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Pascualvaca et al., 1998 sourceNot checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The bilingual advantage hypothesis posits that living as a bilingual and using two linguistic systems involves increased cognitive demands.

“The bilingual advantage hypothesis posits that living as a bilingual and using two linguistic systems involves increased cognitive demands.”

• cites Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Massive heterogeneity among participants with ASD in nonverbal IQ and language abilities necessitates proper characterization of samples and appropriate matching procedures.

“A third is the massive heterogeneity amongst participants with ASD in terms of nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) and language abilities, necessitating proper characterization of samples and the use of appropriate matching procedures with comparison groups”

• cites Russo et al., 2007 sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

When all children with ASD are grouped, they are significantly delayed in language development.

“when all children with ASD are grouped, they are significantly delayed in language development”

• cites Luyster et al., 2008 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Weismer, Lord, & Esler, 2010Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

A bilingual advantage is not observed in other executive function domains such as working memory.

“In contrast, it has been suggested that a bilingual advantage is not observed in other EF domains such as working memory”

• cites Bialystok, 2009Not checked yet

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• cites Engel de Abreu, 2011 sourceNot checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Bilinguals' language skills vary along a continuum related to amount of language exposure, with optimal mastery of two languages occurring with balanced exposure between 40% to 60% exposure to each language.

“Bilinguals' language skills vary along a continuum related to the amount of language exposure received in their second language, with optimal mastery of two languages occurring with balanced exposure, that is, between 40% to 60% exposure to each language”

• cites Elin Thordardottir, 2011Not checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The 20% cut-off for bilingual status was based on evidence that it may be difficult to elicit utterances in a language for children with language exposure lower than 20%.

“The 20% cut-off to determine bilingual status was based on evidence from Pearson, Fernandez, Lewedeg, and Oller (1997), who found that it may be difficult to elicit utterances in a language for children with language exposure lower than 20%.”

• cites Pearson, Fernandez, Lewedeg, and Oller (1997)Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Typically-developing 5-year-olds can perform the DCCS switch correctly, while younger children tend to continue sorting by the first dimension.

“Typically-developing 5-yearolds are able to perform the switch correctly, while younger children tend to continue sorting by the first dimension”

• cites Zelazo, 2006 sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The bilingual advantage hypothesis has been challenged by researchers who found comparable performance on executive function tasks for bilinguals and monolinguals.

“It should be noted that the bilingual advantage hypothesis has been challenged by other researchers who have found comparable performance on EF tasks for bilinguals and monolinguals”

• cites Paap & Greenberg, 2013Not checked yet

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• cites Morton & Harper, 2007Not checked yet

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• cites Namazi & Thordardottir, 2010Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

The effect of ASD on set-shifting is highly variable in magnitude and does not meet criteria for use as a clinical marker for ASD.

“this effect was highly variable in magnitude”

• cites Leung & Zakzanis, 2014Not checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Nonverbal IQ was assessed using the Leiter-R, a completely nonverbal test appropriate for children from different language backgrounds and for children with ASD.

“Nonverbal IQ was assessed using the Leiter-R (Roid & Miller, 1997), which is a completely nonverbal test appropriate for the assessment of children from different language backgrounds as well as for children with ASD.”

• cites Roid & Miller, 1997Not checked yet

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• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The Leiter-R is appropriate for assessing nonverbal IQ in children from different language backgrounds and in children with ASD.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Bonferroni corrections were applied for measures with multiple tests to avoid Type I errors.

“Following a conservative approach, Bonferroni corrections were used for measures where multiple tests were performed (e.g., DCCS task and BRIEF) to avoid Type I errors.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The bilingual advantage on the DCCS border version should be considered preliminary evidence because of the small sample size.

“Although novel and revealing, this finding should be taken as preliminary evidence given our small sample size.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The alpha level for DCCS reaction time analyses was set at p < .025.

“The significance level for analyses concerning RTs was set at p <.025, given two statistical analyses conducted, one on switch cost between pre-and post-switch phases and the other on mean RT of the border phase.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Set-shifting was measured with an experimental task alongside parent report of children's executive functions in daily life.

“Specifically, we measured set-shifting with an experimental task alongside parent report of children's executive functions in daily life to provide a more ecologically valid view of EF skills”

• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The alpha level for BRIEF analyses was set at p < .025.

“Two statistical analyses were conducted using the BRIEF scores (i.e., shift subscale and working memory subscale); therefore the alpha level for significance was set at p <.025.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Bilinguals exhibit smaller switching costs relative to monolinguals during set-shifting paradigms.

“The general finding is that bilinguals exhibit smaller switching costs (delays when changing from one rule to another, or on switch blocks compared to same rule blocks) relative to monolinguals during set-shifting paradigms (Prior & MacWhinney, 2009).”

• cites Prior & MacWhinney, 2009Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Number repetition forward assesses short-term memory, while number repetition backwards assesses both short-term and working memory.

“Number repetition forward is considered a measure of short-term memory, whereas number repetition backwards is a more complex measure that taps into both short-term and working memory (e.g., Eigsti, 2011;Engel de Abreu, 2011).”

• cites Eigsti, 2011Not checked yet

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• cites Engel de Abreu, 2011 sourceNot checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Most children's BRIEF inconsistency scores were consistent; two monolingual ASD participants had questionable scores and were excluded from BRIEF analyses.

“Results showed that for the majority of children, scores were consistent.However, two participants in the monolingual ASD group showed questionable scores and were therefore excluded from analyses involving the BRIEF.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Computerized testing reduces the social demands of face-to-face interactions for children with ASD.

“The computerized testing modality was used to decrease the social demands of face-to-face interactions for children with ASD, as suggested by prior research on set-shifting in this population (e.g., Ozonoff, 1995;Pascualvaca et al., 1998).”

• cites Ozonoff, 1995 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Pascualvaca et al., 1998 sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The assumptions of statistical tests were checked and parametric tests were used where appropriate.

“The assumptions of statistical tests were checked and parametric tests where used where appropriate.”

May combine two claims.

Typically developing children do not perform better on computerized tasks and may benefit from social motivation when interacting with an experimenter.

“Typically-developing children, on the other hand, do not perform better on computerized tasks and may actually benefit from social motivation when interacting with an experimenter (Kenworthy et al., 2008).”

• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Children with ASD exhibited set-shifting difficulties in everyday life relative to same-age typically developing peers, as shown by BRIEF scores; both ASD groups scored in the dysfunction range while typically developing participants scored in the average range.

“This was the case for a parent-report measure of set-shifting (BRIEF), which confirmed clinical levels of difficulty.”

• Also stated in: § Set-Shifting in Daily Life · plain

  “Both groups with ASD scored within the dysfunction range on this subscale, whereas the TYP participants' scores were in the average (typical) range.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Other studies have reported spared set-shifting abilities in children and adults with ASD on some experimental tasks.

“Other studies have also reported spared set-shifting abilities in children and adults with ASD on some experimental tasks (e.g., Edgin & Pennington, 2005;Hill & Bird, 2006).”

• cites Edgin & Pennington, 2005Not checked yet

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• cites Hill & Bird, 2006 sourceNot checked yet

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May combine two claims.

The BRIEF is a reliable and valid parent-report measure of executive function in daily life for typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders aged 5 to 18.

“The BRIEF can be used to assess EF in daily life for TYP children as well as children with neurodevelopmental disorders, aged 5 to 18 years (Gioia et al., 2000a).Its reliability (e.g., internal consistency = .80to .98) and validity are considerate adequate (Gioia et al., 2000b).”

• cites Gioia et al., 2000aNot checked yet

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• cites Gioia et al., 2000bNot checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

The study used rigorous group matching, a stringent multi-source definition of bilingualism, and comprehensive evaluation of a potential bilingual advantage.

“We evaluated these hypotheses using rigorous group matching, a stringent, multi-source definition of bilingualism, and comprehensive evaluation of a potential bilingual advantage.”

May combine two claims.

The bilingual advantage on the DCCS border version is likely due to the age of the participants, as it was detected on the border rather than the simpler post-switch phase.

“The fact that we detected this difference on ability to complete the border, rather than simpler post-switch phase is likely due to the age of our participants.”

• cites Faja & Dawson, 2014Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The BRIEF is considered an ecologically valid measure of executive functioning and has been used in prior research on EF in children with ASD.

“This questionnaire has been used in previous research examining EF in children with ASD (e.g., Leung, Vogan, Powell, Anagnostou, & Taylor, 2016) and is considered an ecologically valid measure of executive functioning (Kenworthy et al., 2008).”

• cites Leung et al., 2016 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Children with ASD have been found to perform better on EF tasks that use computerized rather than live administration by an examiner, which has been attributed to reduced social demands.

“As discussed in the introduction, children with ASD have been found to exhibit better performance on EF tasks that employ computerized versus live administration by an examiner (Kenworthy et al., 2008;Ozonoff, 1995;Pascualvaca et al., 1998), which has been attributed to the reduced social demands required of them.”

• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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• cites Ozonoff, 1995 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Pascualvaca et al., 1998 sourceNot checked yet

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May combine two claims.

The DCCS task is not a highly sensitive measure of set-shifting impairment and does not reliably show better performance for typically developing children relative to children with ASD.

“This is likely because the DCCS task is not a highly sensitive measure of set-shifting impairment, with a 95% confidence interval of [-1.82, 2.85] pooled over the two studies just mentioned (Leung & Zakzanis, 2014).That is, the DCCS task does not reliably show better performance for typically-developing children relative to children with ASD.”

• cites Leung & Zakzanis, 2014Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The reaction time analyses were exploratory because the original DCCS procedure was used and RT is not part of conventional scoring.

“It is important to note that our examination of RT measures was exploratory given that we employed the original procedure of the DCCS task although it was computer-administered, and RT measures are not involved in the conventional scoring of this task.”

May combine two claims.

Prior discussion has addressed bilingualism's selective impact on particular cognitive skills, and typically-developing individuals show the same pattern.

“The selective influence of bilingualism on specific cognitive skills had been discussed and this same pattern has been found in typically-developing individuals (e.g., Bialystok, 2009).”

• cites Bialystok, 2009Not checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Evidence is accumulating that bilingualism protects against and delays dementia in normal aging.

“There is growing evidence that bilingualism acts as a protective factor that delays the onset of dementia in normal aging (for a review see Bialystok, Abutalebi, Bak, Bruke, & Kroll, 2016).”

• cites Bialystok, Abutalebi, Bak, Bruke, & Kroll, 2016Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Bilingualism may offer benefits for children with ASD, including reducing notable set-shifting problems.

“We demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, bilingualism is not harmful for children with ASD (e.g., with respect to their language abilities, Kay-Raining Bird, Genesee, & Verhoeven, 2016), and in fact, may provide some advantages, such as mitigating prominent set-shifting difficulties.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

In groups other than ASD, a dissociation between performance-based and rating EF measures is well documented.

“and rating measures of EF is widely documented (Isquith, Roth, & Gioia, 2013) and was the subject of a practitioner review by Toplak, West, and Stanovich (2013).”

• cites Isquith, Roth, & Gioia, 2013 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Toplak, West, and Stanovich (2013) sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

This agrees with earlier reports that verbal working memory is relatively spared in ASD.

“This also in line with previous work showing verbal working memory to be a spared aspect of EF in children with ASD (Faja & Dawson, 2014).”

• cites Faja & Dawson, 2014Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

Bilingual status was determined through a rigorous four-step method: parents reported language exposure and rated proficiency, children were directly tested in both languages, and external judges rated proficiency.

“To ascertain children's bilingual status, this study employed a rigorous 4-step procedure including parent-report of amount of language exposure, parent ratings of language proficiency, direct testing in both languages of the bilingual participants, and ratings of language proficiency by external judges.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Toplak and colleagues reviewed 20 studies that compared performance-based with rating EF measures in child and adult, nonclinical and clinical samples, especially ADHD and traumatic brain injury.

“These authors reviewed 20 studies that compared both performance-based and rating measures of EF, including child and adult, nonclinical and clinical samples, particularly attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and traumatic brain injury.”

• cites Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2013 sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

By contrast, everyday use of similar executive abilities demands applying them when needed to achieve goals.

“In contrast, the use of analogous EF abilities in daily life requires applying them as the need arises to meet ones' goals.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

In those studies, the median correlation between the two types of EF measure was .19, and just 24% of correlations were significant.

“Across these studies, they report a median correlation of only .19 between performance-based and rating measures of EF, with only 24% of the correlations reported in these studies reaching significance (Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2013).”

• cites Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2013 sourceNot checked yet

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Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Autism researchers have discussed the split between everyday EF impairments and intact experimental EF performance.

“The dissociation between impairments in EF skills in everyday life and intact performance on the experimental EF tasks has been discussed by autism researchers (e.g., Kenworthy et al., 2008).”

• cites Kenworthy et al., 2008Not checked yet

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May combine two claims.

All four groups were matched on NVIQ, age, and maternal education, and as far as possible dominant language.

“In addition, all four groups of participants were matched on NVIQ, age, and level of maternal education, and to the extent possible, dominant language.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The study's novelty lay in using both performance-based and daily-life rating measures of EF to examine a bilingual advantage.

“Our study was novel in employing both experimental or performance measures and a rating measure of EF skills in daily life to investigate a bilingual advantage.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

Performance-based tasks offer optimal conditions and a structured problem space, with a clear task and often an explicit rule.

“Performance-based measures provide optimal conditions and structure the problem-space with a well-defined task and often an explicit rule to follow.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

To have bilingual status in this study, participants had to be proficiently bilingual and live in a society where the two languages were official languages used in multiple contexts.

“Crucially, to have bilingual status in our study participants had to be proficiently bilingual as described earlier, and they lived in a society where the two languages in question were official languages used in multiple contexts.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The border-version reaction-time result warrants caution because the task's procedure differed from that of other studies that analyzed reaction times.

“Once again, this finding should be interpreted with caution since the task procedure was not comparable to other studies analyzing RTs.”

May combine two claims.

The ASD bilingual advantage seems to extend beyond nonverbal tasks and beyond the specific task used here.

“Thus, it appears this bilingual advantage in ASD is not limited to the nonverbal domain or to the particular task we employed in this study.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

This matches prior findings that set-shifting is a particularly prominent difficulty in ASD.

“However, while set-shifting scores of children with ASD were in the executive dysfunction range, this was not the case for working memory scores, replicating the finding that set-shifting is a peak area of difficulty in ASD (Gioia et al., 2002, Granader et al., 2014).”

• cites Gioia et al., 2002 sourceNot checked yet

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• cites Granader et al., 2014 sourceNot checked yet

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Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The participants lived in one city and largely had comparable cultural and educational backgrounds.

“Participants were from the same city and for the most part shared similar cultural and educational backgrounds.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Toplak and colleagues consider the two kinds of measure complementary: performance-based ones index processing efficiency, while rating ones capture success in pursuing goals in everyday settings.

“Toplak and colleagues (2013, p. 140) deem these complementary measures given that each provide important information about EF abilities, with performance-based measures serving as an index of efficiency of processing, and rating measures reflecting success in rational goal pursuit in natural environments.”

• cites Toplak and colleagues (2013)Not checked yet

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