title: Neurocognitive performance of children with higher functioning autism spectrum disorders on the NEPSY-II.
abstract: This study examined patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the neurocognitive performance of children with higher functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants were 30 children with higher functioning ASD ranging from 6 to 11 years, and 60 typically developing (TD) children, who were matched with the children with higher functioning ASD in terms of age, gender, and maternal education. The TD children were drawn from the Finnish standardization sample for the NEPSY-II. The cognitive abilities of the children with higher functioning ASD were assessed with the WISC-III, and the neurocognitive performance of the children with higher functioning ASD and TD children on the NEPSY-II was compared. The children with higher functioning ASD were found to have strengths in verbal reasoning skills with respect to the population mean and weaknesses in set-shifting, verbal fluency, and narrative memory in comparison with the TD children. Minor weaknesses were also observed in facial memory and fine and visuomotor skills.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Behavioural Sciences , University of Helsinki , Helsinki , Finland.
authors.forename: Sarianna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barron-Linnankoski
authors.forename: Outi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Reinvall
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lahervuori
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Voutilainen
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lahti-Nuuttila
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korkman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Asperger syndrome; Autism spectrum disorder; Children; NEPSY-II; Neurocognitive performance