Intervention will be delivered individually in person. Cognitive Control (CC) Computer Training consists of four games that require multiple aspects of CC (flexible thinking, inhibitory control) and working memory. Each game has approximately 20 levels of increasing difficulty. Parameters that contribute to the difficulty and passing criteria are fixed, but children progress from level to level at their own pace. Metacognition Coaching employs manualized strategies that: meaningfully engage children with the training tasks; simplify tasks to make them more manageable; support sustained effort; emphasize key CC skills needed for tasks; provide coping strategies to reduce frustration associated with challenging aspects of the games; and use guided conversations to aid children with mastering each game. To support the needs of children with ASD, key concepts are described using consistent language and visual supports throughout training sessions.

The waitlist group will continue with any ongoing interventions (treatment as usual) and will not initially receive the training program. At the end of the study, the waitlist group will be offered training.

Computer training is delivered in person by a coach. Training consists of four games; each requires multiple aspects of cognitive control. Training levels progress in difficulty by increasing the number of items or simultaneous dimensions, decreasing the available response time, requiring greater accuracy, or adjusting the proportion of distractors or their complexity. Parameters that influence the difficulty of each level and passing criteria are fixed, but children progress from level to level at their own pace. Training is accompanied by manualized metacognition coaching to provide strategies to meaningfully engage with the tasks, simplify the tasks, support sustained effort, emphasize key cognitive control skills needed, provide coping strategies to reduce frustration associated with challenging aspects of the games, and use guided conversations to highlight metacognition.

The flanker portion of the Child Attention Network Task (ANT) measures neural response to CC monitoring and inhibition. It includes 12 practice and 108 test trials. Each trial begins with a 150ms beep paired with a 450ms fixation cross at the center of the screen. Then, a target and flankers are presented for 2000ms. Congruent trials (50%) include a central target animal flanked by two animals on each side with the same orientation and size as the target. Incongruent trials (50%) are identical except that the target and flankers face opposite directions.

Children use two buttons to show the direction each target is facing (50% left, 50% right) and receive feedback.

It has four test blocks with Go (75%) and Change trials (25%). Change trials consist of a visual signal to stop the dominant task (i.e., left/right button press) and change response (i.e., space bar). Individual differences in reaction time (RT) are controlled using the mean correct RT from the previous block; stop signals occur equally at 50, 200, 350, and 500ms before each child's RT. Stop signal reaction time (SSRT) is computed via the mean method and estimates the latency to inhibit a dominant response.