Incomplete Gestation has an Impact on Cognitive Abilities in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The team looked at the kids with autism. Some were born early-term (37-38 weeks). Some were moderate-late preterm (32-36 weeks). The rest were full-term (39+ weeks).

All kids took the same IQ and language tests. The doctors also rated their autism symptoms. Then the scores were lined up by birth week.

Early-term and preterm kids with ASD scored lower on every test. The gap was 6-10 points for both talking and non-talking tasks.

Autism symptom scores stayed the same across groups. Shorter pregnancy hurt thinking skills, not social symptoms.

Eklöf et al. (2019) extends this picture backward. They scanned extremely preterm newborns who later got ASD. Those babies already showed uneven brain folds linked to language. The brain signs appear first; the low scores show up later.

Vassos et al. (2023) seems to clash but really doesn’t. They found that by age 10, extremely preterm and term-born kids with ASD looked alike on social symptoms. Brayette et al. (2019) saw the same thing. The new twist: parents in M et al. recalled fewer repetitive hand or word rituals in the preterm group. Different question, same core story—gestation changes cognition more than it changes core autism traits.

Kuang et al. (2025) builds a tool from this idea. They fed BSID-III scores from 6-24 months into a computer model. The model spots very preterm babies who will later get ASD with a large share certainty. Maëva’s finding gave them the reason to try.

When a child with ASD is born even a little early, expect lower cognitive scores even if autism behaviors look typical. Use this info when you set language and learning goals. Start skills teaching earlier and monitor progress more often. Share the gestational-age fact with teachers and parents so they understand why extra practice time may be needed.