title: The structure of intelligence in children and adults with high functioning autism.
abstract: Confirmatory factor analyses of the commonly used 11 subtests of the Wechsler child and adult intelligence scales were accomplished for 137 children and 117 adults with high functioning autism (HFA) and for comparable age groups from the standardization samples contained in the Wechsler manuals. The objectives were to determine whether the structure of intelligence in HFA groups was similar to that found in the normative samples, and whether a separate "social context" factor would emerge that was unique to HFA. Four-factor models incorporating a Social Context factor provided the best fit in both the autism and normative samples, but the subtest intercorrelations were generally lower in the autism samples. Findings suggest similar organization of cognitive abilities in HFA, but with the possibility of underconnectivity or reduced communication among brain regions in autism.
authors.affiliation: VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada Las Vegas.
authors.forename: Daniel N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Nancy J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Minshew
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Duquesne University.
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Volkmar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Ami
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Schultz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests