Affiliation:
1. University of Ioannina, Greece
2. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are diagnosed with impairments in social and communicational abilities, poor social interaction skills, and repetitive and inflexible behavioral patterns that cause several difficulties. The severity of these deficits is significantly influenced by the general executive and linguistic impairments of the individual. A large area of cognitive functions is executive functions (EF), the dysfunction of which is present throughout development in ASD, as there is evidence for both their typical and atypical development. Further, even though language impairment is not included in the DSM-V diagnostic criteria, it has been related to ASD. The purpose of this chapter is to present recent findings regarding both executive and linguistic impairments of children with ASD.