Size sequencing as a window on executive control in children with autism and Asperger's syndrome.

The team asked kids to drag colored circles into size order on a touch screen.

Each turn added one more circle, so the sequence got longer.

They compared high-functioning children with autism or Asperger’s to same-age peers.

The study was small—just a few kids in each group.

When the list was short, both groups did fine.

When the list grew past four items, the ASD group made more mistakes and took longer.

The longer the chain, the bigger the gap.

This points to a working-memory ceiling that shows up fast in ASD.

Lai et al. (2017) pooled dozens of studies and found the same medium-size executive gap across many tasks.

Koolen et al. (2014) later showed the same load effect holds for adults with ASD, so the problem does not simply vanish with age.

McGonigle-Chalmers et al. (2010) looked at a different executive task—free sorting of shapes—and saw no group difference at all.

The tasks look alike, but sequencing adds memory load while sorting does not.

Same kids, same lab, different demand: null versus clear deficit.

That explains the seeming clash.

You now have a quick, low-language probe for executive limits.

Start with three items; if the child stalls or errs, drop the length or add visual cues before you blame non-compliance.

Use the same touch-screen set-up to track progress after teaching chunking or self-talk.

Because the gap widens with length, keep classroom directions short or deliver them in written chunks.