@misc{10481/74823,
year = {2022},
month = {4},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/74823},
abstract = {Understanding both for whom and how interventions work is a crucial next step
in providing personalized care to children with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD). Autistic children present with heterogeneity both within core ASD
criteria and with respect to co-occurring mental health challenges, which may
affect their ability to benefit from intervention. In a secondary data analysis of
a randomized control trial evaluating an executive function (EF) training with
70 7- to 11-year-old autistic children, we explored: (1) whether co-occurring
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) features or anxiety features at
baseline moderated the extent to which children benefited from the EF training.
In other words, we asked, “For whom is training effective?” We also
explored: (2) the extent to which changes in a brain-based measure of target
engagement predicted the clinical outcomes of the EF training. This is a step
towards asking, “How is training effective?” We found that EF training
improved behavioral inhibition only for children with clinically significant cooccurring
ADHD features. Anxiety features, while prevalent, did not moderate
EF training efficacy. Finally, for the EF training group only, there was a significant
correlation between pre-to-post change in an EEG-based measure of
target engagement, N2 incongruent amplitude during a flanker task, and
change in repetitive behaviors, a behavioral outcome that was reported in the
parent RCT to have improved with training compared to waitlist control. This
study provides preliminary evidence that EF training may differentially affect
subgroups of autistic children and that changes at the neural level may precede
changes in behavior.},
organization = {Eunice Kennedy
Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human
Development of the National Institutes of Health under
Award no. R00HD071966},
organization = {GoFAR Foundation},
publisher = {Wiley},
keywords = {ADHD},
keywords = {Anxiety},
keywords = {Autism spectrum disorder},
keywords = {Executive function training},
keywords = {Inhibitory control},
keywords = {Moderation},
keywords = {Target engagement},
title = {Beyond group differences: Exploring the preliminary signals of target engagement of an executive function training for autistic children},
doi = {10.1002/aur.2735},
author = {Edmunds, Sarah R. and MacNaughton, Gabrielle A. and Rueda Cuerva, María Del Rosario and Cómbita, Lina M. and Faja, Susan},
}