Event-based prospective memory in mildly and severely autistic children

• Prospective memory was studied in severely autistic children for the first time.
• The severely autistic children performed less well than neurotypical children on two PM tasks.
• Importantly, no group differences emerged in the PM task including a reward (a toy).
• Mildly autistic children performed similarly to typically developing children.
• Naturalistic tasks and motivation are important in the success of severely autistic children.

BackgroundThere is a growing body of research into the development of prospective memory (PM) in typically developing children but research is limited in autistic children (Aut) and rarely includes children with more severe symptoms.AimsThis study is the first to specifically compare event-based PM in severely autistic children to mildly autistic and typically developing children.Methods and proceduresFourteen mildly autistic children and 14 severely autistic children, aged 5–13 years, were matched for educational attainment with 26 typically developing children aged 5–6 years. Three PM tasks and a retrospective memory task were administered.Outcomes and resultsResults showed that severely autistic children performed less well than typically developing children on two PM tasks but mildly autistic children did not differ from either group. No group differences were found on the most motivating (a toy reward) task.Conclusions and implicationsThe findings suggest naturalistic tasks and motivation are important factors in PM success in severely autistic children and highlights the need to consider the heterogeneity of autism and symptom severity in relation to performance on event-based PM tasks.