Nancy Garon

Executive Function in Preschoolers: A Review Using an Integrative Framework.

During the last 2 decades, major advances have been made in understanding the development of executive functions (EFs) in early childhood. This article reviews the EF literature during the preschool period using an integrative framework. The framework adopted considers EF to be a unitary construct with partially dissociable components (A. Miyake et al., 2000). The authors focus on 3 EF components: working memory, response inhibition, and shifting. For the present purposes, the central executive is conceived of as a central attention system that is involved in all EF component operations. Research to date suggests that elementary forms of the core EF components are present early during the preschool period. Changes in EF during the latter half of the preschool period appear to be due to the development of attention and integration of component EFs. Finally, the review outlines a number of areas that warrant further investigation if researchers are to move forward in understanding early EF development.

Temperament and its Relationship to Autistic Symptoms in a High-Risk Infant Sib Cohort

The present study prospectively investigated early temperamental profiles and their associations with autistic symptoms in high-risk infants (Nu2009=u2009138) with an older sibling with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and low-risk infants (Nu2009=u200973) with no family history of ASD. Children who were diagnosed with ASD at 36xa0months were distinguished from non-ASD sibs and controls by a temperament profile marked by lower positive affect, higher negative affect and difficulty controlling attention and behavior, which we labeled Effortful Emotion Regulation. This profile also distinguished the non-ASD sib group from the control group. Children with ASD were distinguished from both of the other two groups by a temperament profile of low Behavioral Approach (lower sensitivity to “social” reward cues). Low levels of Behavioral Approach were associated with a higher number of ASD symptoms, even after taking into account IQ, sex and group membership. Finally, a cluster analysis revealed two ASD subgroups distinguished by number of ASD symptoms, IQ, age of diagnosis and scores on the Behavioral Approach profile. These findings suggest that temperament may be a useful framework for understanding the emergence of ASD early in life.

Clinical assessment of autism in high-risk 18-month-olds

Earlier intervention improves outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but existing identification tools are at the limits of standardization with 18-month-olds. We assessed potential behavioural markers of ASD at 18 months in a high-risk cohort of infant siblings of children with ASD. Prospective data were collected using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) on 155 infant siblings and 73 low-risk controls at 18 months. Infants were classified into three groups (ASD sibs, non-ASD sibs, controls) based on blind best-estimate diagnosis at age 3. Fishers exact tests, followed by discriminant function analyses, revealed that the majority of informative ADOS items came from the social and behavioural domains, and AOSI items measuring behavioural reactivity and motor control contributed additional information. Findings highlight the importance of considering not only social-communication deficits, but also basic dimensions of temperament including state regulation and motor control when assessing toddlers with suspected ASD.

Complex decision-making in early childhood

Decision-making over time is an important aspect of adaptive social functioning. The main goal of this study was to investigate the development of this ability in young children. A simplified version of the Iowa Gambling Task was given to 69 children at 3 ages (3, 4, and 6 years). Children were also given an awareness test to assess their knowledge of the task. Significant age differences were found for awareness of the task while significant sex effects were found for performance on the task. Females chose significantly more from the advantageous decks than would be expected by chance in the second block. Males demonstrated no significant difference in choice of decks. Further analysis indicated female superiority in the task was not due to greater knowledge of the game. One interpretation of these results is that there are two systems affecting decision-making over time.

Brief Report: Pragmatic Language in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationships to Measures of Ability and Disability

Pragmatic language skill is regarded as an area of universal deficit in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but little is known about factors related to its development and how it in turn might contribute to skills needed to function in everyday contexts or to the expression of ASD-related symptoms. This study investigated these relationships in 37 high-functioning children with ASD. Multiple regression analyses revealed that structural language skills significantly predicted pragmatic language performance, but also that a significant portion of variance in pragmatic scores could not be accounted for by structural language or nonverbal cognition. Pragmatic language scores, in turn, accounted for significant variance in ADOS Communication and Socialization performance, but did not uniquely predict level of communicative or social adaptive functioning on the Vineland. These findings support the notion of pragmatic language impairment as integral to ASD but also highlight the need to measure pragmatic skills in everyday situations, to target adaptive skills in intervention and to intervene in functional, community-based contexts.

Decision Making in Children With ADHD Only, ADHD-Anxious/Depressed, and Control Children Using a Child Version of the Iowa Gambling Task

Objective: The goal of this study is to investigate decision making in children with ADHD using a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The effect of internalizing symptoms is also of interest. Method: Twenty-one children with ADHD (high anxiety/depression and no anxiety/depression) are compared to an age- and sex-matched control group on the gambling task. Children in the ADHD-alone group demonstrate impaired performance on the IGT. In contrast, children in the control group and the ADHD-anxiety/depression group learn to choose more from the advantageous decks over time. Results: These findings of impaired decision making in children with ADHD parallel findings of real-life decision-making problems in this population. Conclusion: Furthermore, the findings suggest that having a high number of internalizing symptoms leads to better performance for children with ADHD on this variant of the IGT.

A Prospective Study of Autistic-Like Traits in Unaffected Siblings of Probands With Autism Spectrum Disorder

CONTEXTnThe presence of autistic-like traits in relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well recognized, but, to our knowledge, the emergence of these traits early in development has not been studied.nnnOBJECTIVEnTo prospectively investigate the emergence of autistic-like traits in unaffected (no ASD diagnosis) infant siblings of probands diagnosed as having ASD.nnnDESIGNnTwo groups of children unaffected with ASD were assessed prospectively-siblings of probands diagnosed as having ASD (high risk [HR]) and control subjects with no family history of ASD (low risk [LR]). Scores on a measure of autistic-like traits at 12 months of age were used in a cluster analysis of the entire sample.nnnSETTINGnA prospective study of infant siblings of probands with ASD from 3 diagnostic centers in Canada.nnnPARTICIPANTSnThe study included 170 HR and 90 LR children, none of whom was diagnosed as having ASD at age 3 years.nnnMAIN OUTCOME MEASURESnThe Autism Observation Scale for Infants was used to measure autistic-like traits and derive clusters at 12 months of age. Clusters were compared on ASD symptoms, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional difficulties at age 3 years.nnnRESULTSnTwo clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (n = 37; 14.2% of total sample) had significantly higher levels of autistic-like traits compared with cluster 2. Within cluster 1, 33 children came from the siblings (19.4% of HR group) and only 4 came from the control subjects (4.5% of LR group). At age 3 years, children from cluster 1 had more social-communication impairment (effect size > 0.70; P < .001), lower cognitive abilities (effect size = -0.59; P < .005), and more internalizing problems (effect size = 0.55; P = .01). Compared with control subjects, HR siblings had a relative risk of 4.3 (95% CI,1.6-11.9) for membership in cluster 1.nnnCONCLUSIONSnStudy findings suggest the emergence of autistic-like traits resembling a broader autism phenotype by 12 months of age in approximately 19% of HR siblings who did not meet ASD diagnostic criteria at age 3 years.

Awareness and Symbol Use Improves Future-Oriented Decision Making in Preschoolers

A child version of the Iowa Gambling task was used to explore the development of decision-making during the preschool period in two experiments. One hundred eighty-one children, 3.5 and 4.5 years of age, were asked to choose between a “bad” deck with higher immediate but lower long-term rewards and a “good” deck with lower immediate but higher long-term rewards. Experiment 1 explored age differences and the association of the gambling task with a delay of gratification task. Age differences in performance were found, supporting previous findings (Kerr & Zelazo, 2004) of a development difference between 3- and 4-year-old children in future-oriented decision making. Performance on the gambling task was found to be significantly associated with delay of gratification for 3.5-year-old children only. Experiment 2 explored the effect of labeling and symbol use on performance. Although having 4.5-year-old children label decks as good or bad improved their performance on the task, this labeling had no effect on 3.5-year-old childrens performance. However, having 3.5-year-old children place a symbol representing “good” and “bad” next to the decks did improve performance, but only for those children who were able to correctly label the decks. These results suggest an interaction between conscious awareness, symbol use, and making advantageous future-oriented decisions during the preschool period.

Negative affectivity predicts individual differences in decision making for preschoolers

The authors goal in conducting this study was to explore the association between temperament and future-oriented decision making. Forty-three preschoolers (mean age = 51 months) were given a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and asked to choose between a deck with higher immediate rewards and a deck with higher future rewards. Children who were higher on the Extraversion/Surgency factor of the Child Behavior Questionnaire chose more frequently from the higher immediate rewards deck early in the game. The externalizing dimension of Negative Affectivity (anger/frustration, soothability and discomfort) made the greatest contribution to prediction of performance in the last block of the game. Children who were more easily frustrated and had difficulty regulating negative emotions chose more from the deck with higher immediate rewards. There was a significant interaction between the externalizing dimension of Negative Affectivity, the internalizing dimension of Negative Affectivity (sadness and fear) and Extraversion/Surgency on the last block. These results suggest a complex association between IGT performance and temperament in preschoolers.

Developmental and Gender Differences in Future-Oriented Decision-Making During the Preschool Period

A child version of the Iowa Gambling task was used to explore the developmental and gender differences in decision making of 4-year-olds (Nu2009=u2009141). The task required children to choose between two decks: a deck with higher immediate rewards and a deck with higher future rewards. Developmental differences between young (4.0–4.5) and older (4.6–4.11) children were found, with older 4-year-olds choosing more from the deck with higher future rewards. Gender differences were found for decision-making strategy. It is suggested that these differences in approaches might account for the pattern of gender differences found in past research.