A cross-sectional investigation of executive function and language abilities in autistic preschoolers
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Language abilities among autistic children are known to vary widely; recent evidence suggests this may be at least partly due to differences in executive function (EF); however, collective findings are inconclusive, likely due to methodological differences and the heterogeneity of autism. There is a need for comprehensive investigation using direct measures of language and executive function, particularly at the preschool age, a crucial developmental timeframe in which both of these domains are known to predict children's school readiness and long-term academic success. Therefore, the present study investigated how key components of EF (working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility) relate to comprehensive (formal and informal) measures of language skills in autistic preschoolers. 81 autistic preschoolers completed comprehensive EF and language assessment as part of a larger longitudinal study conducted at Boston Children’s Hospital. Moreover, for informal characterization of language skills, language sampling analysis was completed for a subset of participants. Initial Pearson correlations revealed (i) working memory is positively associated with receptive language, and (ii) cognitive flexibility is positively associated with both receptive and expressive language. These effects remained significant after controlling for age, sex assigned at birth, and parent education via hierarchical linear regressions. However, when controlling for nonverbal cognitive skills, none of these effects remained significant. Meanwhile, no associations were found with inhibition across language measures, and no significant associations between components of EF and informal language measures were indicated. These findings highlight the need to carefully consider the role of nonverbal cognitive skills when investigating EF in relation to language skills and motivate the need for further research to disentangle the respective contributions of nonverbal cognitive skills and EF in predicting language.
Description
2025
License
Attribution 4.0 International