A study examining children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder whose social and cognitive symptoms had resolved 4 years later has found that most continued to have emotional and behavioral symptoms that required special educational support.

Share on Pinterest The researchers found that almost three quarters of the children continued to need academic support, whether it be in a small class setting or a resource room.

The research, presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego, CA, aimed to investigate whether any deficits remained after the resolution of early symptoms to the extent that children no longer met the criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Data were analyzed for children diagnosed with ASD in 2003-2013 whose symptoms had been found to have resolved around 4 years later upon re-evaluation. A total of 38 children out of 569 diagnosed with ASD in a university-affiliated early intervention program were reviewed by the team led by Dr. Lisa Shulman.

“Autism generally has been considered a lifelong condition, but 7% of children in this [program] who received an early diagnosis experienced a resolution of autistic symptoms over time,” explains Dr. Shulman.

The children participating in the intervention program lived in the Bronx and came from diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds frequently underrepresented in ASD research. They included Hispanic children (44%), African-American children (10%) and children on Medicaid (46%).

Both the original and follow-up diagnoses were made by a multidisciplinary team, basing their decisions on DSM-IV criteria, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule.

After the initial diagnosis of ASD, clinicians provided the children with interventional treatment and subsequently monitored their responses to it. While most children continued to experience emotional and behavioral symptoms that met the diagnostic criteria for ASD, for some children their symptoms appeared to resolve.