Developmental Trajectories of Adaptive Behavior From Toddlerhood to Middle Childhood in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Brianne Tomaszewski, Susan Hepburn, Audrey Blakeley-Smith and 1 others
PMID 32357104WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism showed gains in communication, daily living, and socialization skills from toddlerhood to middle childhood.
Higher mental age at age two predicted faster skill growth. More perseverative errors on a cognitive flexibility task predicted slower growth in socialization skills.
Key findings
01All domains of adaptive behavior showed growth over time, though standard scores remained delayed relative to peers.
02Higher mental age in toddlerhood was associated with higher initial communication and daily living skills and a greater rate of change in these domains.
03More perseverative errors on a spatial reversal task in toddlerhood were associated with less growth in socialization skills over time.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (76 participants) and recruited from a single metropolitan area, limiting generalizability. There was a large proportion of missing data, handled with statistical corrections. Only three time points were available, which limits the ability to determine the exact shape of developmental trajectories (e.g., linear vs. quadratic). The study used raw scores to measure growth, which may not account for differences in item difficulty or weighting. The executive function measure (Spatial Reversal task) has not been validated for psychometric properties in this specific population. The data was collected between 1997 and 2007, so findings may not reflect current diagnostic profiles or intervention landscapes.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H., Extramural). No other conflicts of interest are reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the growth in raw scores as evidence that the children are catching up to their peers. The study explicitly states that adaptive behavior standard scores did not significantly improve and remained significantly delayed compared to the standardization sample.