Cognitive flexibility training intervention among children with autism: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Autism is defined by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction in multiple contexts as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. There are also reported difficulties in the dynamic activation and modification of cognitive processes in response to changes in tasks' demands. Such difficulties are believed to be due to poor flexible cognition. This research aimed to assess and intervene in cognitive flexibility in subjects with autism. Ten subjects diagnosed with autism by psychiatrists, aged 5 years to 13 years and 5 months, were assessed in non-verbal intelligence through Raven's Progressive Matrices in pretest. They were also assessed in cognitive flexibility through Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and in patterns of social interactions, behaviors, and communication through Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). An intervention program of 14 to 21 sessions was established to enhance cognitive flexibility. In posttest, they were assessed in WCST and ADI-R. All measures of cognitive flexibility improved in posttest except for failure to maintain set. Among the measures improved in posttest, perseverative errors and responses improved in posttest with statistical significance as well as categories completed. Total scores on ADI-R were lower in posttest as well as scores on communication abilities. The qualitative improvement showed by the individuals of this research concerning cognitive flexibility and also patterns of restricted behavior, social interaction, and communication abilities suggests that individuals with autism can benefit from the development of strategies for the enhancement of cognitive flexibility. Nevertheless, more research is suggested with a larger sample among subjects on the autism spectrum.

Correlações Entre Os Perfis Comportamentais, Funcionamento Executivo E Empatia Na Perturbação Do Espectro Do Autismo: Orientações Para a Intervenção1

“…Os nossos dados sugeriram a intervenção nesses dois domínios, encontrando-se em linha com Wade et al (2018) que consideraram que a intervenção com foco no desenvolvimento da empatia cognitiva/teoria da mente poderá ter impacto nas funções executivas e vice-versa. Adicionalmente, outros autores consideraram que o desenvolvimento da flexibilidade cognitiva é importante para melhorar a capacidade de mentalização, comunicação e comportamentos desajustados (Varanda & Fernandes, 2017).…”

“…Face às relações que foram encontradas, que vão ao encontro de outros estudos (Berenguer et al, 2018), considera-se que intervenção deverá ser diferenciada tendo em conta o perfil comportamental da criança e o funcionamento executivo e empático. De acordo com as correlações encontradas e o papel do funcionamento executivo na melhoria nos domínios sociais e comportamentais na PEA, tal como referido nos estudos anteriormente citados, destaca-se a importância na intervenção do desenvolvimento da flexibilidade cognitiva e comportamental pela sua influência no comportamento adaptativo em diferentes contextos (Pugliese et al, 2015) e interferência na comunicação, interação social e padrões repetitivos de comportamento (Varanda & Fernandes, 2017). O desenvolvimento da capacidade de planificação e de organização associado a estratégias de flexibilidade proporcionará uma maior adaptação às situações do quotidiano (Hill, 2004).…”

“…Além disso, outros consideram que é crucial incluir no plano de intervenção objetivos para a melhoria da capacidade de iniciação, da memória de trabalho e flexibilidade cognitiva social (Freeman et al, 2017;Leung et al, 2016), da capacidade de inibição (Hutchison et al, 2019), do controlo emocional (Kouklari et al, 2018), da planificação (Geurts et al, 2014) e da monitorização (Pugliese et al, 2016). Para os comportamentos repetitivos, considera-se importante a intervenção na regulação comportamental e, principalmente, na flexibilidade cognitiva (Varanda & Fernandes, 2017) e inibição (Faja & Nelson Darling, 2019), devendo também ter-se em conta a memória de trabalho (Rabiee et al, 2020), o controlo emocional (Samson et al, 2014) e a planificação (Lopez et al, 2005).…”

social Communication Predictors in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Theoretical Review

“…On the other hand, Varanda (2011) identified the presence of failure in social interaction attempts and social response adequacy, to be linked with joint attention deficits. According to Varanda and Fernandes (2017) difficulties in the fast shifting of attentional focus (which is considered a sub-component of cognitive flexibility) can contribute to an increased joint attention failure. Namely, increased flexibility is required to be able to do the transition between attention to oneself, to one object and to someone else.…”

The Effects of Intelligence and Personality on Performance in Simulated Interrogation Scenarios

“…Individuals with high cognitive flexibility (CF) have enhanced attentional control, information processing and plan formation capabilities. This enables them to adapt their cognitive system to changing contexts and demands (Varanda & Fernandes 2017). CF has also been explored in relation to decision making and problem solving (Laureiro-Martínez & Brusoni 2018).…”