Beyond group differences: Exploring the preliminary signals of target engagement of an executive function training for autistic children.

Understanding both for whom and how interventions work is a crucial next step in providing personalized care to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autistic children present with heterogeneity both within core ASD criteria and with respect to co-occurring mental health challenges, which may affect their ability to benefit from intervention. In a secondary data analysis of a randomized control trial evaluating an executive function (EF) training with 70 7- to 11-year-old autistic children, we explored: (1) whether co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) features or anxiety features at baseline moderated the extent to which children benefited from the EF training.