Development Of Executive Function In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The current study aimed to identify the development of executive function among a sample of children on the autism spectrum across the ages (9-10-11) years, who are present in autism centers and institutes in Baghdad Governorate, and they number (75) boys and girls, distributed equally among the aforementioned age groups, with a ratio of (25). In a child, the researchers used to measure executive function the tool (Zelazo & Fry, 2003) called “The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task,” which included (12) cards bearing drawings of different colors and shapes, adopting an interesting picture presentation method for children. Applying the tool (individually) to children on the autism spectrum, the study reached the following results Executive function is developed in children on the autism spectrum at the age of 11 year Executive function did not improve across ages and according to the gender variable for children on the autism spectrum except in the 11-year-old group and in favor of males There are statistically significant differences in the development of executive function among children on the autism spectrum at the age of (11) years, in favor of males  In light of the results of the study, the researchers presented a set of recommendations and proposals