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Small autistic boy playing ritually with a broom in living room at home, UK
There is more evidence that a minority of autistic children may eventually overcome their developmental issues, but experts caution that such recovery is rare.
Its long been the hope of parents of autistic children that the right care and support can reduce or even reverse some of the developmental problems associated with the condition. But while a recent study found that behavioral intervention programs are linked with normalization of some brain activity, the question of whether children can outgrow autism remains difficult to answer. Studies to date that have hinted at this possibility were plagued with lingering questions about whether the children who apparently shed their autism were properly diagnosed with the developmental disorder in the first place.
The new research, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and led by Deborah Fein of the University of Connecticut, involved 34 people ages 8 to 21 who had been diagnosed with autism but no longer met criteria for the condition. The initial diagnosis had to be made in writing by a doctor or psychologist specializing in autism before the child turned five. And, to make sure they were studying severe cases, researchers included only children who had not spoken before 18 months or did not use phrases before age 2.
The authors compared these optimal outcome (OO) participants to 44 people of the same age, gender and IQ with high functioning autism or Aspergers Syndrome, who still had symptoms. The OO group was also compared to 34 similarly matched, typically developing people.
I view it as really a landmark kind of study that validates an observation that clinicians and families have made for many years, says Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for Autism Speaks and a long time researcher in the field.
This is the first empirical study to seek out children with optimal outcomes and systematically test them in a variety of functioning domains, to see if they are truly indistinguishable from typically developing children, says Sally Ozonoff, professor of psychiatry at the University of California Davis Medical Center and author of an editorial that accompanied the study, There have been no other studies of this kind in the past.
MORE: Behavior Therapy Normalizes Brains of Autistic Children
How did the scientists ensure that the participants no longer had measurable signs of autism? They tested the volunteers on various scales commonly used to diagnose the condition and videotaped the interviews. These were then reviewed by several experts who had to be in agreement about whether the participants no longer met criteria for the disorder, including factors such as their ability to attend regular classes without one-on-one assistance in school, no longer requiring social skills training classes, and having at least one typically developing friend. In addition, they were required to have an IQ over 77, which means that the results do not apply to autistic children who also have intellectual disability.
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Can Autism Be 'Outgrown'?