School-Aged Functioning of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Before Age Three: Parent-Reported Diagnostic, Adaptive, Medication, and School Placement Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 1357 - 1372
• Main Authors: Towle, Patricia O., Vacanti-Shova, Karyn, Shah, Shristi, Higgins-D’alessandro, Ann
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adaptive behaviour; Adjustment (to Environment); Adolescent; Adult; Age of Onset; Anxiety Disorders; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic spectrum disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Care and treatment; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - drug therapy; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Clinical Diagnosis; Communication Disorders; Comparative Analysis; Demographic aspects; Developmental disorders; Diagnosis; Drug Use; Early Diagnosis; Early Intervention (Education); Elementary school students; Elementary Schools; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Identification; Infant; Infantile autism; Learning Disabilities; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Health Programs; Neurosciences; Nonverbal Learning; Original Paper; Parents; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Questionnaires; Resistance (Psychology); Sample Size; Schools; Severity (of Disability); Social Adjustment; Social experiences; Student Placement; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome; Young Children; School-age; Autism; ASD; Early diagnosis; Longitudinal; School placement; Medication use; Adaptive behavior; Human; School adaptation; Pharmacotherapy; Developmental disorder; School environment; Autism spectrum disorder; Pervasive developmental disorder; School age; Treatment; Parent rating; Early; Diagnosis; Child
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1997-2

Eighty children with early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses (under 36 months) were identified using a chart abstraction protocol applied to early intervention charts. Parents filled out questionnaires by mail when the children were school-aged (ages 6–16 years). Similar to previous studies, approximately 20 % no longer had ASD diagnoses; the other participants were assigned to Moderate/Severe versus Mild ASD outcome groups. These three groups were compared across several variables, including diagnostic features and functional features including adaptive behavior, social experiences, medication use, and school placement. The findings expand our knowledge about outcomes in longitudinal studies of children with ASD, as well as provide support for using relatively indirect methods (chart review, parent questionnaire) to gather this type of information.