Table 2.
Group Differences in Executive Control Scores
| TYP M (SD) |
ASD M (SD) |
ASD+ADHD M (SD) |
Group Differences* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) | ||||
| BRI (T-Score) | 41.62 (6.55) | 59.92 (11.89) | 71.60 (10.78) | TD<ASD<ASD+ADHD |
| MCI (T-Score) | 43.29 (5.55) | 58.19 (10.57) | 73.65 (6.75) | TD<ASD<ASD+ADHD |
| Inhibit (T-Score) | 44.10 (6.88) | 57.31 (11.81) | 69.65 (13.28) | TD<ASD<ASD+ADHD |
| Shift (T-Score) | 43.71 (10.25) | 63.62 (13.30) | 72.50 (11.55) | TD<ASD<ASD+ADHD |
| Digit Span (DS) | ||||
| Backwards (Scaled Score) | 11.80 (2.80) | 10.80 (3.08) | 9.10 (2.63) | TD>ASD+ADHD; ASD=TD, ASD=ASD+ADHDa |
| Spatial Working Memory | ||||
| BE (Raw Score) | 38.59 (14.09) | 43.88 (16.33) | 49.65 (19.59) | Noneb |
| Walk Don’t Walk | ||||
| Total (Scaled Score) | 7.43 (2.60) | 6.18 (3.29) | 5.56 (4.27) | Nonec |
*
These differences are significant after controlling for multiple comparisons with the False Discovery Rate (q<0.05), and then using Tukey’s hsd (p<0.05) for post-hoc analyses.
a
Effect size for the difference between ASD and ASD+ADHD was medium (Cohen’s d=0.59)
b
Effect sizes for the difference between ASD+ADHD vs. TYP and ASD+ADHD vs. ASD were medium-to-large (Cohen’s d=0.65 and 0.42, respectively)
c
Effect sizes for the difference between ASD+ADHD and TYP and ASD vs. TYP were medium (Cohen’s d=0.53 and 0.42, respectively)
BE= Between Errors