Executive function in MCDD and PDD-NOS: a study of inhibitory control, attention regulation and behavioral adaptivity.
Kids with PDD-NOS plus MCDD show weaker executive skills than those with PDD-NOS alone—screen early and target self-control lessons.
01Research in Context
What this study did
van Rijn et al. (2013) looked at executive function in two PDD-NOS groups. One group also had MCDD, a rare subtype. The other group had plain PDD-NOS.
They tested inhibitory control, attention switching, and flexible behavior. Kids did tasks like stop-signal games and card sorts.
What they found
Kids with PDD-NOS plus MCDD scored worse on every EF task. Plain PDD-NOS kids did better, but still below typical peers.
The gap was large enough to see in daily life: more trouble waiting, shifting plans, and ignoring distractions.
How this fits with other research
Hatton et al. (1999) first showed that PDD-NOS kids have milder social-cognitive gaps than classic autism. Sophie’s team moves the clock forward, showing EF gaps also come in shades.
Mordre et al. (2012) tracked the same diagnostic labels for thirty years. They found adult disability checks were lower for PDD-NOS than for autistic disorder. Together, the two studies say: PDD-NOS is not one blunt category; early cognitive scores can help you guess later support needs.
Sasson et al. (2022) review warns that EF tests in ID often use different tools, making scores hard to compare. Sophie’s paper is one of the few that kept the same battery across sub-groups, so its rank order is safer to trust.
Why it matters
If a child carries the old MCDD label, expect wider EF struggles and plan more practice with stopping, shifting, and staying on task. For any PDD-NOS profile, add a quick EF screener to your intake; it flags who may need extra self-management teaching right away.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A proportion of children within the autism spectrum is at risk for severe deregulation of thought, emotion and behaviour resulting in (symptoms of) psychotic disorders over the course of development. In an attempt to identify this subgroup, children with PDD-NOS, subtype MCDD (n = 24) were compared to children with PDD-NOS (n = 23) on executive function (EF) skills. Significant differences emerged, always to the disadvantage of the children with PDD-NOS, subtype MCDD on various EF measures. The findings suggest compromised attention regulation and impaired inhibitory control in children with MCDD, which may help explain high levels of thought problems which are frequently observed in these children. Our findings provide evidence for recognizing a PDD subcategory of MCDD that is of specific interest with regard to long-term developmental risks involved.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1688-4