A Preliminary Examination of the Impact of Working Memory Training on Syntax and Processing Speed in Children with ASD

In addition to deficits in pragmatics, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have weaknesses in complex syntax and working memory (WM). These two deficits may be closely related. Previous work investigated the effects of WM training in developmental language disorders and showed significant...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Delage, Hélène, Eigsti, Inge-Marie, Stanford, Emily, Durrleman, Stephanie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2021
Materias:
Original Paper
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8559141/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34724165
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05295-z
Descripción
Sumario:In addition to deficits in pragmatics, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have weaknesses in complex syntax and working memory (WM). These two deficits may be closely related. Previous work investigated the effects of WM training in developmental language disorders and showed significant improvement in both WM and syntax. The current study tests the impact of 12 h of WM training across 8 weeks in 30 children with ASD, aged 5 to 11. Results showed direct improvements on untrained WM tasks, as well as transfer effects to syntax and processing speed. Stronger WM led to better syntactic abilities. While they must be replicated, these exciting results provide impetus for further studies of WM interventions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10803-021-05295-z.

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