Abstract
Autism symptom severity change was evaluated during early childhood in 125 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children were assessed at approximately 3 and 6 years of age for autism symptom severity, IQ and adaptive functioning. Each child was assigned a change score, representing the difference between ADOS Calibrated Severity Scores (CSS) at the two ages. A Decreased Severity Group (28.8%) decreased by 2 or more points; a Stable Severity Group (54.4%) changed by 1 point or less; and an Increased Severity Group (16.8%) increased by 2 or more points. Girls tended to decrease in severity more than boys and increase in severity less than boys. There was no clear relationship between intervention history and membership in the groups.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association 2013) and affects 1 out of every 59 children (Baio et al 2018) in the United States
The present study reports behavioral data related to autism symptom severity, cognitive function and adaptive behavior collected at Time 1, the baseline assessment, and Time 3, which served as the follow up assessment
To evaluate the profiles of individual change demonstrated by the participants across time, a severity change score was computed for each participant (Time 3 Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Calibrated Severity Scores (CSS)–Time 1 ADOS CSS) (Fig. 1)
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association 2013) and affects 1 out of every 59 children (Baio et al 2018) in the United States. Venker et al (2014) explored autism severity trajectories using the ADOS CSS in a group of 129 children (17 girls and 112 boys) over four assessments between the ages of 2.5 and 5.5 years using latent class growth models Their findings are consistent with Gotham et al (2012). In 2015, Szatmari et al used a semiparametric, group-based approach to study a sample of 421 2–6-year-old children (66 girls and 355 boys) who were assessed at three time points, using the ADOS CSS They observed two severity trajectories; a large group (88.6%) characterized with higher initial severity that demonstrated stable severity across time and a small group (11.4%) with initially low severity and decreases over time. Their results indicated that autism symptom severity remained stable over a 1 year period for 84% of their participants while 16% demonstrated an increase in severity
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