Subgrouping Autism Based on Symptom Severity Leads to Differences in the Degree of Convergence Between Core Feature Domains.

We examined standardized parent ratings of symptoms from three domains (social, communication, repetitive behaviors) in large samples of typically developing children, children with ASD, and ASD subgroups. Our results suggest that the most evidence for divergence lies in typically developing children and lower severity ASD cases, while more evidence for convergence is found in a subset of cases with more severe impairment on any core feature. These results highlight the importance of subgrouping ASD given the degree of phenotypic heterogeneity present across the autism spectrum. PMID: 29307039 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: J Autism Dev Disord Source Type: research