Cognitive-adaptive Functioning Gap and Mediating Factors that Impact Adaptive Functioning in Chinese Preschool-aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Preschoolers with ASD and IQ ≥ 70 still show big daily-skills gaps—verbal IQ and early walking age flag who needs help most.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at Chinese preschoolers with autism who score 70 or higher on IQ tests. They measured how far daily living skills lag behind IQ. They also asked: do verbal IQ and early walking age predict better adaptive scores?
No fancy gear—just standard IQ and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Parents told when their child first walked without help.
What they found
Even with "high" IQ, the kids’ daily skills sat far below their IQ scores. Verbal IQ and earlier unaided walking each pointed to stronger adaptive skills.
How this fits with other research
Amore et al. (2011) saw the same IQ-adaptive gap in over 1,000 verbal youth with autism. The new study shrinks the age lens and adds culture, but the mismatch stays.
Chang et al. (2013) found the gap in Taiwanese children. Wang et al. (2024) now show it starts even earlier, in the preschool years.
Ben-Itzchak et al. (2014) tracked toddlers for two years. Only kids who began with DQ ≥ 70 later gained daily skills. The 2024 paper echoes that 70-point line and adds walking age as a fresh, easy marker.
Donoso et al. (2024) extend the story: higher adaptive skills cut behavior problems. So closing the early gap may also calm later mental-health issues.
Why it matters
Don’t let a "high-functioning" IQ label fool you. Check Vineland scores and ask parents when the child walked. If words are weak or walking came late, boost daily living and social routines now. Targeting these early may spare you bigger behavior headaches later.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add two questions to your intake: age of first independent steps and current Vineland scores—then write adaptive goals for kids with late walking or low verbal IQ.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study aimed to investigate the gap between adaptive functioning and cognitive functioning, especially verbal and nonverbal intelligence quotient (IQ) in Chinese children with ASD. We systematically explored cognitive functioning, ASD severity, early signs of developmental abnormalities, and socioeconomic factors as mediating factors of adaptive functioning. We enrolled 151 children (age: 2.5?6 years) with ASD and categorized them into one group with IQ ≥ 70 and another with IQ < 70. The two groups were calibrated for age, age at diagnosis, and IQ, and the relationship of adaptive skills with vocabulary acquisition index (VAI) and nonverbal index (NVI) were separately analyzed. Results show that the gap between IQ and adaptive functioning was significant in children with ASD having IQ ≥ 70, with both VAI and NVI showing statistically significant differences (all P < 0.001). VAI correlated positively with scores for overall adaptive skills and specific domains, whereas NVI had no significant correlations with adaptive skill scores. Age of first walking unaided had an independent positive correlation (all P < 0.05) with scores of adaptive skills and specific domains. IQ-adaptive functioning gap is significant in children with ASD having IQ ≥ 70, suggesting that defining "high-functioning autism" merely on the basis of IQ is not appropriate. Verbal IQ and early signs of motor development are specific and possible predictors of adaptive functioning in children with ASD, respectively.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.2009.05.026