Restricted and repetitive behaviors decrease significantly in about 75 percent of autistic children from age 3 to 11, according to a study that tracked more than 400 children. The study is the longest yet to analyze this core autism trait.
Researchers presented the unpublished results today at the听听annual meeting in Montreal.
Restricted and听, such as finger-flicking and hand-flapping, are distinctive characteristics of autism. They help some children cope with stress. They also can impede children鈥檚 ability to听, however, and may manifest as self-injurious behavior.听听may even be linked to delays in developing daily living skills. So experts debate about whether and when to intervene.
The new work suggests that these behaviors often peter out as autistic children get older.
鈥淸These behaviors] tend to decrease. So it may not be super useful and helpful to try to stop them,鈥� says听, a postdoctoral researcher in听鈥檚 lab at ACAR, located in The Neuro, a 平特五不中 teaching institute, in Montreal.
Courchesne and her colleagues recruited 421 autistic children enrolled in the听听study, a long-term study of autistic children in Canada. When the children were 3.5, 4, 4.5, 6.5, 9 and 11 years old, their parents filled out the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised, answering questions about 43 restricted and repetitive behaviors.
顿谤辞辫辫颈苍驳听off:
The changes in these behaviors followed five trajectories. The number of behaviors decreased over time in four of the five trajectories.
Some children had an average of 30 restricted and repetitive behaviors at age 3.5, for example, but this number dropped to about 20 by age 11. The biggest drop generally occurred between 3.5 and 6.5 years old, the researchers found.
In about 25 percent of the children, repetitive behaviors increased over time 鈥� from about 16 types at age 3.5 to 20 types at age 11. These children had poorer language skills than children in the other groups.
Courchesne plans to analyze the children鈥檚 behavior by type, to determine whether some types of repetitive behaviors are associated with better long-term outcomes than others.
For more reports from听the听2019听International听Society for Autism Research annual meeting,听.
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About ACAR
The Neuro鈥檚听Azrieli Centre for Autism Research (ACAR)听transforms research, training and care to improve the quality of life of autistic people and their families. Established in 2017 thanks to the听, ACAR operates in the spirit of Open Science, inclusion and community collaboration. The state-of-the-art research centre is committed to advancing understanding of the mechanisms underlying autism and related conditions, developing new diagnostic tools and effective interventions through translational research and integrated care, and training the next generation of fundamental and clinical autism researchers.
