Brief report: Effect of verbalization to other individuals on cognitive planning in children with autism spectrum disorders

This study investigated 21 children with ASD to ascertain the effects of verbalization to others on cognitive planning in children with ASD. The Tower of Hanoi (ToH) test was administered in two conditions: solo and duo. Participants performed the ToH test using the normal method in the solo condition. In the duo condition, a participant was not allowed to touch the ToH apparatus, but was allowed to communicate about the procedure verbally to complete the ToH test. In children with ASD in this study, performance of the duo condition was not different from the solo condition. However, individual differences in the performance of the duo condition were observed. Participants were classifiable into three groups based on their performance. The results show that the roles of verbalization on cognitive planning in children with ASD are not homogeneous.