Cognitive flexibility impairments in children with autism spectrum disorders: links to age, gender and child outcomes.
Among school-age kids with ASD, girls and those with lower IQ, language deficits, less sleep or more solitary activities show more cognitive flexibility problems on WCST.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Memari et al. (2013) looked at flexibility in kids with autism. They used the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST).
They checked if age, sex, IQ, language, sleep, or play style linked to more perseveration errors.
What they found
Girls with autism made more WCST errors than boys. Lower IQ, poor language, less sleep, and solitary play also raised errors.
These kids got stuck longer on old rules when the cards changed.
How this fits with other research
Strang et al. (2017) built on this work. Four years later they made a parent-teacher Flexibility Scale. It samples the same skill in daily life.
Lacroix et al. (2022) moved the question to adults. Autistic adults only struggled when rule shifts were hidden inside social-emotional cues.
Koyama et al. (2009) foreshadowed the sex gap. Girls with high-functioning autism already showed flatter WISC-III profiles years earlier.
Why it matters
When you test flexibility, expect girls with autism to look more rigid on WCST. Factor in IQ, language, sleep, and play style before labeling a deficit. If you need a quick daily check, swap to the Flexibility Scale instead of cards.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There are still many questions about the cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that remain unanswered. The goal of current study was to evaluate cognitive flexibility patterns and their demographic, clinical and behavioral correlates in large sample of children with ASD. A total of 123 children (94 boys and 29 girls) with ASD aged 7-14 years were assessed on the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). Findings showed that gender but not age was associated with the cognitive flexibility performance in ASD. Individuals who had more parent-reported language deficits, lower level of intelligence and education, and showed lower daily sleep time or more engagement in solitary instead of social daily activities were more likely to demonstrate perseveration. Findings provide tentative evidence of a link between cognitive flexibility deficits and sociodemographic or clinical child outcomes in ASD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.06.033