On Jan. 16 Fox News reported that researchers are testing to find out whether or not a child can outgrow an autism diagnosis. So far, it looks like the results are inconclusive. The study was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and has caused quite an uproar in the autism community because people that have grown up with this neurological disorder find it offensive to suggest that they may simply "grow out of it," or worse, that "it's all in their head." It is more likely that these kids were misdiagnosed from the very beginning.
Researchers are saying while this has been their finding, they do not have definitive results nor can they pinpoint specific traits that signify that a child will grow out of an autism diagnosis and more research is needed.
The study based in Connecticut studied 34 autistic children diagnosed in early childhood and 34 children that had no autism diagnosis. Through cognitive and observational tests, they found that the children were nearly indistinguishable as to who was autistic and who was not. Furthermore, they are suggesting that children that show the most severe signs are the ones that will be the most likely to "outgrow" their diagnosis.
It is being suggested that children that receive better and more frequent treatment are the ones that see the most improvement and are most likely to outgrow it. This seems to be more like better management of symptoms than outgrowing a genetic, neurological disorder.
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