Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder Followed for 2 Years: Those Who Gained and Those Who Lost the Most in Terms of Adaptive Functioning Outcome.
A preschool IQ at or above 70 predicts big adaptive gains, while below 70 flags likely skill loss over two years.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tracked 2-year changes in daily living skills for preschoolers with autism.
They split the kids by IQ: 70 or above versus below 70.
No extra teaching was given; they just watched who gained or lost skills.
What they found
Children who started with IQ 70 or higher were 18 times more likely to gain adaptive skills.
Kids below that IQ line often lost skills over the same two years.
Early thinking ability, not autism severity, was the clearest signal of later progress.
How this fits with other research
Ohan et al. (2015) saw the same IQ link across a wider age range, adding that autism severity can help or hurt depending on age and IQ.
Bachrach et al. (2026) used the same 70-point cut-off to decide mainstream versus special-ed placement in Israel, showing the score drives real-world choices.
Laugeson et al. (2014) found even tiny IQ gains matter for adaptive skills in low-IQ clinic kids, backing the idea that every point counts.
Why it matters
You can spot risk early by checking IQ during intake.
If a child scores below 70, plan more intense adaptive teaching and monitor for skill loss.
Share the number with families and school teams so placement and goals match the child’s true learning rate.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Clinical predictors of 2-year outcome in preschoolers with ASD were studied in a population-based group of very young children with ASD (n = 208). Children who gained the most (n = 30) and lost the most (n = 23), i.e., increased or decreased their adaptive functioning outcome according to the Vineland Composite Score between study entry (T1) and follow-up (T2), 2 years later were compared. Individual factors that differed significantly between the two outcome groups were cognitive level, age at referral, not passing expected milestones at 18 months, autistic type behavior problems and regression. However, logistic regression analysis showed that only cognitive level at T1 (dichotomized into IQ < 70 and IQ ≥ 70) made a unique statistically significant contribution to outcome prediction (p = <.001) with an odds ratio of 18.01. The findings have significant clinical implications in terms of information at diagnosis regarding clinical prognosis in ASD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2509-3