Pre-pandemic Executive Function Protects Against Pandemic Anxiety in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Celia’s team tested the kids . Half had autism, half were neurotypical.

Before COVID, each child completed stop-signal and card-sort tasks to measure inhibition and shifting.

Nine months into the pandemic, parents filled out an anxiety checklist for the same kids.

Kids who had scored low on inhibition or shifting showed a jump in anxiety symptoms.

The link held for both autistic and typical children. Poor EF predicted later anxiety better than diagnosis alone.

Iversen et al. (2021) pooled the kids and found poor EF goes hand-in-hand with repetitive behaviors. Celia adds a new outcome: anxiety spikes when a crisis hits.

Tonizzi et al. (2022) showed inhibition is already weak in ASD plus ADHD. Celia widens the risk pool, saying even kids without ADHD are vulnerable if shifting or inhibition is low.

Ohan et al. (2015) saw shifting problems in ASD but never tracked real-world fallout. Celia follows kids into a global stress test and finds the fallout is anxiety.

You already screen EF for planning or RRB programs. Add a quick anxiety risk column to that sheet. When inhibition or shifting scores fall below average, flag the case for preventive coping skills or caregiver training. A 10-minute EF probe today can guide your crisis-support plan tomorrow.