Improvement of executive function in children with autism through Home Playtime Program

Abstract

Introduction: Executive dysfunction has shown to be the shared property of many cognitive symptoms seen in autism. The Home Playtime Program (HPP) is a home-based tele-cognitive rehabilitation for targeting executive dysfunction in children with autism. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectively of this intervention. Materials and Methods: This study followed a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design without group control. Seventeen parents of children with autism aged 24-55 months (Mean=37, SD=9.1) were selected from Tehran Autism Center using available sampling method. Correspondingly, they received the HPP for 10 weeks. Preschool Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-parent form and A-Not-B test were used to measure executive function in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Also, the Therapy Attitude Inventory (TAI) was completed by parents to assess their satisfaction with therapy. Persian version of Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test was applied to the children at the onset of the study. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analyses. Results: The findings indicated that the components of executive functions: inhibition, working memory, planning/organizing, inhibition self-control, flexibility and metacognition were significantly improved at post-test (P