News Report | January 12, 2022
Earlier Autism Diagnosis Associated With Greater Social Symptom Improvement
Children who are diagnosed with autism and start treatment before 2.5 years of age show greater gains in the next year or two than children who are diagnosed at older ages. Children diagnosed before 2.5 years of age were nearly three times more likely to exhibit considerable reductions in the severity of social symptoms as compared with children diagnosed at older ages.
Social symptoms of autism include persistent difficulties in social interaction and communication and unusually restrictive, stereotyped, and repetitive interests or behavior. Children who were diagnosed at younger ages tended to have more severe problems with social . . .