Asperger Syndrome: A Study of the Cognitive Profiles of 37 Children and Adolescents

Branhill, G., Hagiwara, T., Smith Myles, B. and Simpson, R.L. (2000)

This article reports the results of an analysis of Wechsler IQ scores of children and youth diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. The data revealed cognitive patterns dissimilar to those of children with other autism-related disorders and similar to many typically developing and achieving individuals.

Several researchers have attempted to determine whether the profiles obtained from the Wechsler scales could discriminate among Asperger syndrome, autism, and other conditions such as attention disorders, head injury, schizophrenia, and dyslexia.

More than 20 studies to date have reported an unusually uneven Wechsler subtest scale profile among individuals with ASD of varying ages and ability levels. The 22 studies reveal a relatively consistent pattern: strong performance on the Block Design subtest of performance scale, and relatively weak performance on the Comprehension subtest of the Verbal scale.

Only 4 of the 22 studies specifically included individuals diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and the results of these studies revealed inconsistent psychometric assessment findings.

Method
A total of 37 participants who had a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome rendered by a physician, psychologist, or psychiatrist and who had completed one of the Wechsler intelligence scales as part of an individual or school evaluation were included in this study. At the time of testing, the ages of the 35 boys and 2 girls ranges from 3 years 2 months to 14 years 9 months.

Discussion
The results of this study concurred with the results of the majority of previous studies that have reported that, as a group, individuals with ASD score the lowest on the Coding/Digit Symbol subtest. This study also concurred with previous Performance scale findings that high Block Design scores are the norm for individuals with ASD.

Results from the current study indicated that the Verbal subtests with the highest mean scores were Information, Similarities, and Vocabulary.