Brief report: episodic foresight in autism spectrum disorder.

Hsieh et al. (2014) asked the preschoolers to play a picture game. Twelve kids had autism. Twelve kids were typical.

Each child saw four rooms on a computer. The rooms held everyday objects. The kids picked one item to put in a box.

Later they were told, "Tomorrow you will play in this room. What will you need?" Kids earned points for choosing the useful item they had stored.

Typical kids chose the right item about 7 times out of 10. Kids with autism chose it only 4 times out of 10.

Even when both groups had the same mental age, the autism group still scored lower. The gap was large and clear.

Godfrey et al. (2023) saw the same memory weakness in older youth. They found autistic teens and adults forgot story details faster than peers. Together, the two studies show the problem lasts past preschool.

Vyshedskiy et al. (2025) tracked executive function growth in 2- to young learners with autism. They found a sharp drop in learning speed after age 2.3. Hsieh et al. (2014) fits this curve: by preschool, future thinking is already behind.

Taddei et al. (2013) tested planning in autistic disorder versus Asperger's. Both groups scored below typical peers on planning tasks. Hsieh et al. (2014) adds that even young kids with autism struggle with a future-focused planning game.

If a preschool client stalls on executive function or theory-of-mind goals, check future thinking. Use simple tomorrow questions: "What will you need at the park?" Practice putting items in a box and retrieving them later. Start before age 2.5 if possible, while the learning curve is still steep.