Some young children who have autism spectrum disorder lose the symptoms and diagnosis when they grow older, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health has confirmed. The National Institute of Mental Health says that researchers carefully documented a group of school-age children who were diagnosed with autism and young adults who had a diagnosis of autism in childhood but no longer have the symptoms.
Deborah Fein, Ph.D., at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and her team recruited 34 outcome children who had received a diagnosis of autism in early life and were now reportedly functioning the same as their mainstream peers. The 34 children were matched by age, sex, and nonverbal IQ with 44 children with high-functioning autism, and 34 peers without autism. Participants ranged in age from 8 to 21 years old.
The research team is currently studying changes in the children's brain function and is determining whether the children have residual social deficits. Researchers are also reviewing data on the interventions the children received, and the impact they may have had in the transition to adulthood.
“Although the diagnosis of autism is not usually lost over time, the findings suggest that there is a very wide range of possible outcomes,” said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. “For an individual child, the outcome may be knowable only with time and after some years of intervention. Subsequent reports from this study should tell us more about the nature of autism and the role of therapy and other factors in the long term outcome for these children.”
The researchers used standard cognitive and observational tests, and parent questionnaires to evaluate the status of the children. They took several steps to ensure accuracy such as reviewing early diagnostic reports by clinicians who were experts in diagnosing autism, and having a diagnostic expert who did not know the children’s current status review reports that eliminated the earlier diagnosis of autism.
The results suggested that children in the optimal outcome group had milder social deficits than the high-functioning autism group in early childhood, but had other symptoms related to communication and repetitive behavior that were as severe as in the latter group.
“All children with ASD are capable of making progress with intensive therapy, but with our current state of knowledge most do not achieve the kind of optimal outcome that we are studying,” said Dr. Fein. “Our hope is that further research will help us better understand the mechanisms of change so that each child can have the best possible life.”
The report is the first in a series that examines the changes in autistic children as they grow older.
