Regional differences in grey and white matter in children and adults with autism spectrum disorders: an activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis.

The team pooled 31 brain-imaging studies of people with autism. They used a map-making tool called ALE to find spots where grey or white matter differed from typical brains.

They split the data into kids and teens versus adults. This let them see if brain gaps fade or grow with age.

Only young people with ASD showed clear grey-matter changes. These spots sat in areas for faces, feelings, and social cues.

Adults with ASD had normal grey-matter volume in those same spots. White-matter gaps were small and did not hinge on age.

Erickson et al. (2016) extends the story. Their cross-sectional study shows local brain connectivity is also worst in kids and smooths out by adulthood.

Verberg et al. (2022) seems to clash. They report faster cortical thinning in adults with ASD. The key difference: they only scanned adults, while Duerden et al. (2012) shows kid-specific effects vanish by adulthood.

Bao et al. (2017) and Osorio et al. (2025) add sensory angles. Both find atypical wiring in youth, matching the idea that early brain differences calm down later.

If social-cognition brain gaps close by adulthood, early childhood is the prime window for social-skills training. You can reassure older clients that their brains are not "behind" in the same way. Use age, not just diagnosis, to set goals and explain progress to families.