Stability of Autism Symptoms in Young Children

The study of early diagnosis and intervention has been a central theme in recent autism research. In support of the validity of early autism diagnoses, researchers have found discriminating variables that are identifiable within the first three years of life. In addition, autism diagnoses made within this time period are typically stable over time. Separate symptoms, however, seem to exhibit differential patterns across development. The current study examined the stability of autism screening outcomes and symptomology in 637 toddlers between the age of 17 and 36 months. Confirmatory of previous findings, results of the current study suggest that overall screening outcomes and symptom severity across three domains (i.e., socialization/nonverbal communication, restricted repetitive behaviors and interests, and communication) are stable across time. Further, the effects of age and time between testing were found to vary between groups. Implications of these results are discussed.