Research into the cognitive profiles of older adults with ASD is limited. We know little about how aging affects individuals with ASD and how this influences their needs. The present study is the first to examine intelligence profiles in older adults with ASD. WAIS-III performance of 23 elderly with ASD and 23 neurotypical older persons was examined. The two groups were matched on age and level of education. Results showed highly similar intelligence profiles, with the exception of processing speed index, on which the older adults with ASD performed weaker than the neurotypical control group. This was caused by impairment on the subscale Digit symbol-coding, which was hypothesized to be due to a local information processing style and problems in set shifting.

Within Computer science and Software engineering, the prevalence of students with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is relatively high. Ideally, education should be inclusive, with which we mean that education must be given in such a way that additional support is needed as little as possible. In this paper, we present an overview on what is known about the cognitive style of autistic individuals and compare that cognitive thinking style with computational thinking, thinking as an engineer, and with academic thinking. We illustrate the cognitive style of autistic students with anecdotes from our students. From the comparison, we derive a set of guidelines for inclusive education, and we present ideas for future work. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → People with disabilities; • Applied computing → Education.