Resting-state alpha brain rhythms provide a foundation for basic as well as higher-order brain processes. Research suggests atypical maturation of the peak frequency of resting-state alpha activity (= PAF) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined resting-state alpha activity in young school-aged children, obtaining…

Physical activity breaks in the classroom are an efficient way of promoting healthy behaviors in students, enhancing the development of their cognitive and academic abilities. The effects of active breaks, which are exclusive to the academic environment, are almost entirely positive, only a few papers did not show significant improvements, but…

Purpose: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) tend to interpret noncanonical sentences like passives using event probability (EP) information regardless of structure (e.g., by interpreting "The dog was chased by the squirrel" as "The dog chased the squirrel"). Verbs are a major source of EP information in adults…

Background: Many studies have examined which kindergarteners' skills best predict reading acquisition later at school. Most of these studies focused on emergent literacy skills such as letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and oral language abilities as the basis for reading acquisition. Additionally, several studies have also found cognitive…

Proactive interference (PI) occurs when previously learned memories compete with currently relevant information. Despite extensive literature investigating the effect in adults, little work has been done in young children. In three preregistered studies (N = 38, 35, 172; convenience samples from the Northeastern United States), first, we showed…

We explored associations among the core behavioural features and developmental/cognitive abilities of 155 autistic children, assessed between ages 13-67 months and again around 1-year later to understand predictive directionality. Bidirectional, cross-domain association was apparent, albeit with stronger direction of effect from earlier cognition…

Exploring individual differences and looking beyond averaged parameters of early numeracy in young children with mild intellectual disabilities has become an area of interest to many researchers worldwide. This study aimed to identify the different profiles of early numeracy skills in young children with mild intellectual disabilities. For this…

Phonological awareness is recognized as a precursor to reading success. Choosing material to assess children's phonological awareness is a major challenge. The literature highlights factors that can influence children's phonological skills, such as the frequency of words, their lexical status, and their linguistic parameters. To date, no study has…

The present study aimed to examine whether Mandarin-speaking children on the autism spectrum showed differences in comprehending spatial demonstratives ("this" and "that", and "here" and "there"), as compared to typically developing (TD) children. Another aim of this study was to investigate the roles of…

Processing speed is a component of general intelligence and an indicator of learning potential. There is a need for robust measures of mental speed based on contemporary theoretical developments. The current study addressed this need by proposing a mental speed test for children aged 60 to 96 months (5 to 8 years) and examining its psychometric…

A review of clinical records was conducted for children with developmental, emotional, and behavioral difficulties who were assessed with both the Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence-third edition (WPPSI-III[superscript CDN]; Wechsler, 2004) and the Leiter international performance scale--revised (Leiter-R; Roid & Miller,…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is essential to the economic growth, health, and progress of the modern world. One cognitive ability that underpins thinking and learning in STEM, as well as other disciplines, is relational ability. This ability to spot common relations shared by different objects, events, ideas, or…

Language ability has been associated with emotion regulation (ER) ability. Children on the autism spectrum have greater rates of language delays and lower ER ability. Despite this, autism traits have not been considered or controlled for in past research. This study therefore examined the association between language ability and ER in young…

Purpose: The current study examined the predictive role of gestures and gesture-speech combinations on later spoken language outcomes in minimally verbal (MV) autistic children enrolled in a blended naturalistic developmental/behavioral intervention (Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation [JASPER] + Enhanced Milieu Teaching…

Research has indicated that school aged (6-16 years) versions of cognitive assessment instruments have varying levels of linguistic demand, which could impact assessment results for placement purposes. However, a significant limitation to this research is the fact that it has not been replicated with cognitive assessment instruments used in…