Stability of Autistic Traits from 5 to 8 Years of Age Among Children in the General Population.
Hideyuki Haraguchi, Andrew Stickley, Aya Saito and 2 others
PMID 30291497WHAT IT FOUND
Mean autistic trait scores showed no significant change from age 5 to 8.
Still, children tended to keep their relative position, and higher-scoring children showed moderate stability.
Key findings
01Mean autistic trait scores did not differ significantly between ages 5 and 8 for the whole sample.
02For the whole sample and for males, total, social communication and interaction, and restricted interests and repetitive behaviour scores were substantially stable; for females, total and social communication scores were substantially stable and restricted behaviour scores were almost perfectly stable.
03Among higher-scoring children, total, social communication and interaction, and restricted interests and repetitive behaviour scores showed moderate stability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The final analysis used 168 children from a baseline longitudinal sample of 461, so attrition and exclusions may affect representativeness. No clinical ASD diagnosis was used; outcomes were mother-reported autistic traits. Cognitive and language levels, emotional or behavioural problems, and intervention history were not collected. The sample had more educated mothers, more full-time housewives, and fewer low-income families than national averages, so results may not apply to all community children. Higher-scoring females were a small subgroup, and their total and social communication stability was not statistically significant. Floor effects may influence stability ratings among lower-scoring children.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read stable autistic trait scores as an ASD diagnosis or proof that no support is needed. The study used mother-reported questionnaire scores in community children, did not assess diagnosis, cognition, language, or intervention, and stability was not significant for total and social communication scores in higher-scoring females.