Brief report: peculiar evolution of autistic behaviors in two unrelated children with brachidactyly-mental retardation syndrome.

Mazzone et al. (2012) watched two unrelated preschoolers who had both autism and BDMR syndrome.

The team tracked the children's behaviors for five years with no special treatment plan.

They wanted to see if autism signs changed as the kids grew.

By elementary school, most autism features had faded in both children.

The kids still had developmental delay, but social and play skills looked far better.

The authors say this late improvement may be typical for autism tied to 2q37 deletions.

Konstantareas et al. (1999) first linked 2q37 loss to autism and called it a distinct subtype.

Mazzone et al. (2012) extends that work by showing the autism can lessen over time.

Green et al. (1986), Assumpcão Júnior (1998), and Richman et al. (2001) each found chromosomal changes in autistic clients, backing the rule: when you see autism plus unusual facial or hand features, order a genetic test.

If a client carries a 2q37 deletion, you can tell families that severe autism signs may ease by school age, even without intensive therapy.

Keep tracking social growth instead of assuming a lifelong plateau, and keep the genetic report in the file—it may explain future shifts in behavior.