Brief report: Impaired temporal reproduction performance in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Kaufman et al. (2010) asked 20 adults with autism and 20 typical adults to copy time intervals.

Each person heard a tone, waited 4, 8, 12, 16, or 20 seconds, then pressed a key for the same length.

The team counted how close each press was to the real time.

Adults with autism pressed too short, especially on the 12-20 s spans.

Their timing was also more scattered; some pressed 3 s, others 7 s, for the same 12 s target.

Typical adults stayed near the true length and varied less.

Bhaumik et al. (2009) saw a similar slip in teens with autism who had to spot events that happened at the same time.

Bhatara et al. (2013) added that teens with autism also need longer gaps to notice a brief silence.

Yet Gras-Vincendon et al. (2007) found no autism gap when adults simply picked which of two words came last.

The difference is the task: copying or judging empty time is hard, but picking order is automatic, so the deficit hides.

Your client may think 5 min have passed when 7 min have. Use visible timers, give extra warnings, and check work completion before the scheduled end.