Autism Symptoms Across Adulthood in Men with Fragile X Syndrome: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.
In men with fragile X, autism traits hold steady through adulthood, so keep social and verbal goals active across the lifespan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ohan et al. (2015) asked 281 men with fragile X syndrome to complete autism checklists.
Families answered questions about repetitive habits, talk skills, and disruptive acts.
The team split the men into four age bands from 18 to 60-plus years to look for age patterns.
What they found
Younger men, ages 18-21, scored a bit lower on talking and a bit higher on repetitive moves.
ASD diagnosis rates stayed flat across all adult age groups.
Disruptive behavior did not climb or drop with age.
How this fits with other research
Castañe et al. (1993) saw adaptive skills rise until mid-teens then dip; L et al. now show ASD traits level off in adulthood, so the teen dip likely reflects life-demand jumps, not worsening autism.
Luckasson et al. (2020) tracked the same boys for three years and found early ADHD signs predicted later ASD traits; L et al. confirm that social-communication issues persist into adult life, supporting early ADHD treatment as a possible shield.
Bromley et al. (1998) tested emotion recognition in boys and found no FXS-specific deficit, seeming to clash with L et al.’s report of ongoing social-communication trouble. The gap is about method: lab task versus caregiver report and child versus adult.
Why it matters
For BCBAs serving adults with FXS, expect stable autism features rather than age-based decline.
Target verbal and leisure skills in early adulthood when motivation is still high.
Screen for ADHD in teens; treating it may ease later social hurdles.
Use real-life caregiver reports, not just clinic tests, to spot social needs that lab tasks can miss.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A cross-sectional analysis was used to examine age-related differences in ASD symptoms and corresponding differences in disruptive behavior and social skills in 281 adult men with fragile X syndrome. Four age groups were created: 18-21, 22-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years. The 18-21 year-old group was reported to have more impairments in verbal communication than the 22-29 year-old group and more restricted and repetitive behaviors than the 40-49 year-old group. There was not an age-group difference in the percentage of men who met criteria for an ASD diagnosis based on respondent-reported, current symptoms. There was a trend for an age-related difference in disruptive behavior. Findings add to understanding of the developmental trajectory of ASD symptoms in adulthood.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.111/j.1600-0447.1980.tb07696.x