What will my child's future hold? phenotypes of intellectual development in 2-8-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder.
Marjorie Solomon, Ana-Maria Iosif, Vanessa P Reinhardt and 5 others
PMID 29076255WHAT IT FOUND
Some young children with autism showed large gains in intellectual ability between ages 2 and 8, while others stayed stable or lost ground.
The amount of therapy received did not differ between these groups.
Key findings
01Four intellectual development trajectory groups were identified among 102 children with ASD: High Challenges (n = 26), Stable Low (n = 18), Changers (n = 36), and Lesser Challenges (n = 22).
02The Changers group had IQ estimates comparable to the Stable Low group at the first time point (estimate 64.7) but showed a 33.8-point increase by the second time point; by T2 no Changer had verbal or nonverbal IQ below 70, although at T1 75% had verbal IQ below 70 and 58% had nonverbal IQ below 70.
03There were no significant differences across trajectory groups in the percentage of children receiving applied behavior analysis or language therapy, or in mean hours of treatment.
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 included 102 children with ASD, not the original 279 participants, and some trajectory groups were small, including 18 children in the Stable Low group. The first and second assessments had different age spans, and the paper notes this as a limitation. The cognitive measures changed between visits: Mullen scores were used at the first visit and Differential Abilities Scales-II scores at the second, and the paper notes a possible 10 to 13 point mean difference between these measures. The sample was not population-based, and children from poorer or more rural areas were not well represented. The study observed only two time points, so it describes trajectories from ages 23-44 months to 51-91 months, not continuous development.
Declared interests
The paper reports NIH extramural support. Several authors reported no biomedical financial interests or conflicts of interest, and Dr. Amaral is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Stemina Biomaker Discovery and Axial Biotherapeutics.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that speech therapy or ABA caused the large IQ gains. The study did not find differences across groups in the percentage of children receiving ABA or language therapy or in mean hours of treatment.