Neurocognitive performance of children with higher functioning Autism Spectrum disorders on the NEPSY-II

Abstract

This study examined patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the neurocognitive performance of children with higher functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants were 30 children with higher functioning ASD ranging from 6 to 11 years, and 60 typically developing (TD) children, who were matched with the children with higher functioning ASD in terms of age, gender, and maternal education. The TD children were drawn from the Finnish standardization sample for the NEPSY-II. The cognitive abilities of the children with higher functioning ASD were assessed with the WISC-III, and the neurocognitive performance of the children with higher functioning ASD and TD children on the NEPSY-II was compared. The children with higher functioning ASD were found to have strengths in verbal reasoning skills with respect to the population mean and weaknesses in set-shifting, verbal fluency, and narrative memory in comparison with the TD children. Minor weaknesses were also observed in facial memory and fine and visuomotor skills.

Keywords:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Asperger syndrome
• Neurocognitive performance
• Children
• NEPSY-II

This study was supported by the Finska Läkaresällskapet, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, and the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation. We thank all the children and parents who participated in the study. We express our gratitude to Lennart von Wendt^† for his dedication to this project. We also warmly thank Susan Laitala, Annina Mara, Annina Marila, and Mia Nykopp for participation in data collection; Taina Nieminen-von Wendt for her collaboration; and Laura Hokkanen for her comments on the manuscript.