Asperger Syndrome, Autism and Attention Disorders: A Comparative Study of the Cognitive Profiles of 120 Children

By Stephan Ehlers, Agneta Nyden, Christopher Gillberg, Annika Sandberg, Sven-Olof Dahlgren, Erland Hjelmquist and Anders Oden (1997) Jr. Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 207-217.

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“The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised was applied in 120 children with Asperger Syndrome, autistic disorder, and attention disorders. Using stepwise logistic regression analysis, the WISC’s discriminating ability was investigated. The overall rate of correct diagnostic classification was 63%. The group with autistic disorder was characterised by a peak on Block Design. The Asperger Syndrome group had good verbal ability and troughs on Object Assembly and Coding. The group with attention disorders had troughs on Coding and Arithmetic.” (p. 207)

“It is important to emphasise that all three diagnostic groups share some behavioural features, and that the Asperger syndrome and autism groups show a clear overlap of symptoms in the areas of social interaction, communication and behaviour. In fact, there is good consensus regarding a continuum of Asperger syndrome and autism at the behavioural level.”

“The present findings bring out the important issue of the external validity of Asperger syndrome. The results indicate that Asperger syndrome and autism share certain WISC cognitive deficits. However, they differ on IQ level and verbal ability. Overall, the findings do not argue convincingly for a clear association of autism spectrum disorder and a specific cognitive profile on the WISC.” (p. 215).