title: Private Speech and executive functioning among high-functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders.
abstract: Private speech used by high-functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) (n = 33) during two executive functioning tasks was compared to that of typically developing children (n = 28), and children with ADHD (n = 21). Children with ASD were as likely as others to talk to themselves and their speech was similarly relevant and likely to appear in moments of task difficulty. Unlike others, children with ASD were more likely to get items correct when they were talking than when they were silent. Group differences in performance were observed when children were silent but not when children were talking. Findings suggest that autistic children talk to themselves in relevant ways during problem-solving and that such speech is helpful in normalizing their executive performance relative to controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. awinsler@gmu.edu
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Winsler
authors.forename: Beau
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abar
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Feder
authors.forename: Christian D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Schunn
authors.forename: David Alarcón
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Rubio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior