Washington University Assistant Professor Paul Shattuck has just published a paper showing that symptoms of autism, like repetitive motion, interaction problems and impaired communication skills, can improve with age.
Reported in September's Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the paper is part of a larger longitudinal study of 400 adolescents and adults with autism and their families conducted by University of Wisconsin professor Marsha Mailick Seltzer.
"Generally people fell into one of three groups," said Shattuck, who joined the George Warren Brown School of Social Work this summer. "There was a small group of people who got worse, a medium size who remained the same, but most people got better."
He qualified his statement though, saying that the magnitude of improvement is "quite modest."
"It's not the case that people are getting better all of a sudden," he said.
These findings offer hope to all those who are diagnosed with autism. Statistically, one in 150 children and an unknown number of adults in the United States have autism, a brain development disorder that researchers know very little about.
"I thought it was important to depict what happens to people with autism throughout their lifespan, not just in childhood," said Shattuck. "It's important to realize that people have the capacity to grow and improve across their lives. Human development does not freeze at some point in time. Public service for people with disabilities ends after adolescence, but it should not stop."
The study's participants, aged 10 to 52 at the onset of the study, were recruited from service agencies, schools and clinics in either Wisconsin or Massachusetts.
Every 18 months for five years, their parents assessed their symptoms and behaviors in depth. Many participants remained stable, but many showed significant improvement. The mean assessment never regressed, according to Shattuck.
"The findings are valid even though they are based on parental reports," he said.
Parents were given two standardized measurement questionnaires which have been used for a long time and are known to be reliable.
Specific symptoms that the study measured include reciprocal conversation, interest in people, compulsions, rituals and maladaptive behavior which isn't unique to autism.
The study, however, does not identify the underlying causes of improvement, but this will be an area for research in the future.
Shattuck, who has an undergraduate degree in education, has had a long-term interest in disabilities because his father is a polio survivor and many of his best friends have forms of autism. He also wanted to contribute to the field since very little research has been conducted so far.
In addition to being the lead author on the paper, Shattuck also assisted with data collection, management and analysis while at Wisconsin.
