Trajectories of Symptom Severity in Children with Autism: Variability and Turning Points through the Transition to School

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 392 - 401
• Main Authors: Georgiades, Stelios, Tait, Peter A., McNicholas, Paul D., Duku, Eric, Zwaigenbaum, Lonnie, Smith, Isabel M., Bennett, Teresa, Elsabbagh, Mayada, Kerns, Connor M., Mirenda, Pat, Ungar, Wendy J., Vaillancourt, Tracy, Volden, Joanne, Waddell, Charlotte, Zaidman-Zait, Anat, Gentles, Stephen, Szatmari, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-01-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptive behavior; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Care and treatment; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child Development; Children; Cluster analysis; Cognitive Ability; Daily Living Skills; Diagnosis; Educational aspects; Humans; Improvement; Language; Language Skills; Medical diagnosis; Multivariate Analysis; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology; Public Health; Schools; Severity; Severity (of Disability); Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Turning points; Canada; Turning points; Trajectories; Autism spectrum disorder; Chronogeneity
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-04949-2

This study examined the trajectories of autistic symptom severity in an inception cohort of 187 children with ASD assessed across four time points from diagnosis to age 10. Trajectory groups were derived using multivariate cluster analysis. A two trajectory/cluster solution was selected. Change in trajectory slopes revealed a
turning point
marked by plateauing in symptom reduction during the period of transition to school (age 6) for one of the two trajectories. Trajectories were labelled:
Continuously Improving
(27%) and
Improving then Plateauing
(73% of sample). Children in the two trajectories differed in levels of symptom severity, language, cognitive, and adaptive functioning skills. Study findings can inform the development of more personalized services for children with ASD transitioning into the school system.