Parent-reported Autism Diagnostic Stability and Trajectories in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
Autism labels can fade for a quarter of kids, and late diagnoses often bring rising behavior woes, so reassess yearly.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sorenson Duncan et al. (2021) tracked the same Australian kids for eight years. Parents told researchers each year if a doctor had said their child had autism.
The team wanted to know how many kids kept the label and how many lost it. They also asked about the child’s feelings and behavior over time.
What they found
Between 74 and 86 percent of children still carried the parent-reported autism label in early teens.
Kids who got the label later showed more anger, worry, and acting-out as years passed. Kids who kept or lost the label early slowly looked better, not worse.
How this fits with other research
Moore et al. (2003) once showed that autism tags given at age two stick almost every time. Tamara’s bigger group shows the same thing can break down later, especially when the tag comes after age six.
Amore et al. (2011) warned that PDD-NOS labels shift the most. Tamara’s numbers back this up: late, milder cases are the ones parents later say “no longer apply.”
Andersen et al. (2015) saw autism scores stay flat while parent-reported depression went down. Tamara adds a twist: late-diagnosed kids actually look more troubled as time passes, so timing changes what parents see.
Why it matters
Up to one in four families may tell you the autism label is gone by middle school. Update your assessment each year, especially for kids diagnosed after six. Watch mood and behavior spikes in late-diagnosed clients—they may need added mental-health support even if the autism tag fades.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study aimed to explore the stability of parent-reported diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and factors influencing the trajectories in two cohorts from the prospective Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Parent-reported ASD diagnosis was collected for children from 6 years of age in a Birth cohort and 10 years of age in a Kinder cohort; allowing for exploration of diagnostic stability at age 6, 8, 10, and 12 years (Birth cohort) and 10, 12, 14, 16 years (Kinder cohort). Children were grouped based on persisting, desisting, inconsistent and late (diagnosis after 6 years-Birth cohort; after 10 years-Kinder) subgroups over four timepoints. Multinomial logistic regression explored predictors of diagnostic trajectories; generalized estimating equations examined trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems. Of 66 Birth cohort children parent-reported to have ASD at age 6, with data at all four time points, 14% did not at 12 years; of 73 Kinder cohort children at age 10 years, 26% no longer had parent-reported ASD at 16 years. Children with late diagnoses showed increasing trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems, while children with persisting or desisting diagnoses showed decreasing trajectories. Between 86% and 74% had a reported ASD diagnosis after 6 years. Findings indicate that children with ASD need services and supports that can adapt to their changing needs, which may be increasing, decreasing or different. This has implications for the provision of services and funding. LAY SUMMARY: This study explored how consistent parent-reported ASD diagnosis is over time in two groups of children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Although up to 26% of children no longer had parent-reported ASD after 6-years follow up, persisting or late trajectories were more common. The outcome of late onset trajectories requires ongoing review. Autism Res 2021, 14: 773-786. © 2021 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021 · doi:10.1002/aur.2470