Comparison of executive function skills of 5;0-7;0 year old children with developlemental language disorder, autism spectrum disorder and typical development

The aim of this study is to describe and compare the executive function skills of children with typical development (TD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental language disorder (DLD). The sample of the study consists of 42 children aged 58-88 months, with TD (n=14), ASD (n=14) and DLD (n=14). Turkish Early Language Development Test, Coloured Progressive Matrices Test and Peg Tapping Test were administered to all children whom met the inclusion criteria. Parents of the children were asked to fill out the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functions- Mother/Father form. IBM SPSS 26.0 package program was used to analyze the data. As the result of the analyses, it was seen that TD children had statistically significant lower averages in the BRIEF subscales than children with ASD and DLD. It was seen that gender and age variables did not have significant effect on executive function scores for children with TD, ASD and DLD. According to the results of correlation analysis between TEDIL and BRIEF, it was observed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between language development and executive function skills. It was found that there was a statistically positive, low-level significant relationship between the RPMT and TEDIL scores. According to the findings, it was concluded that including executive functions in the evaluation and therapy processes of children with ASD and DLD will make positive contributions to their language and cognitive development.