Cognitive deficits and symbolic play in preschoolers with autism

This study investigated symbolic play in 12 children with autism and 12 children with typical development and compared theories that consider either theory of mind, executive function or central coherence to be causally involved in the development of symbolic play in autism. Children with autism demonstrated significantly less symbolic play than their typically developing peers and had significant deficits in theory of mind and central coherence measures but not executive function measures. A tentative conclusion is that symbolic play deficits in autism are more associated with theory of mind and weak central coherence.

► We compared theory of mind, executive functions and central coherence in explaining symbolic play deficits in preschoolers with ASD.
► We found that preschoolers with autism performed significantly worst than children with typical development in symbolic play, theory of mind and central coherence.
► An impaired theory of mind and weak central coherence is more associated with symbolic play performance among children with ASD.