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. 2021 Jan;51(1):227-242.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04526-z.

Trajectories of Autism Symptom Severity Change During Early Childhood

Einat Waizbard-Bartov  1   2 , Emilio Ferrer  1 , Gregory S Young  2 , Brianna Heath  2 , Sally Rogers  2 , Christine Wu Nordahl  2 , Marjorie Solomon  2 , David G Amaral  3
Affiliations

Trajectories of Autism Symptom Severity Change During Early Childhood

Einat Waizbard-Bartov et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021 Jan.

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.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Early childhood; Sex differences; Symptom severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Amaral is on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Stemina Biomarkers Discovery, Inc. and Axial Therapeutics. Other authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of change scores in the sample. Decreases in autism severity from Time 1 to Time 3 are indicated as negative numbers whereas increases in autism severity are indicated as positive numbers
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Group severity trajectories based on group ADOS CSS means at Time 1 and Time 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Scatterplot of individual ADOS CSS of all children in the sample at Time 1 and Time 3, by group membership. The DSG and SSG show a large range of individual severity scores at both Time 1 and Time 3 while The ISG shows a narrower range. Note, scores at Time 1 are plotted with jitter so that all individuals can be seen; participants plotted slightly below 4 actually received an ADOS CSS of 4
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Percentages of girls and boys in the three groups. There was no significant difference between the proportions of boys in the DSG (25.8%) and the ISG (20.2%). However, there was a significant difference between the proportions of girls in the DSG (36.1%) and the ISG (8.3%)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean IQ scores at Time 1 and Time 3 for the three groups. The DSG and SSG made substantial IQ gains over time. The DSGs’ mean IQ was higher than the ISG at both Time 1 and Time 3. The ISG remained stable in IQ over time
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Mean adaptive function (VABS-II composite score) at Time 1 and Time 3 for the three groups. There were no differences between the groups at Time 1. At Time 3, the DSG had a higher adaptive function score compared with the ISG
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