The Atlantic – Nicholette Zeliadt
“It’s clear that Alex and John each function well in certain areas of life and struggle in others; each has an idiosyncratic patchwork of skills and challenges. Their stories illustrate a problem that has plagued autism research for decades: What, exactly, do the terms high- and low-functioning mean and to whom do they apply? An ongoing study in Canada may be able to help answer this question. Since 2004, a team of researchers at five universities has been tracking more than 400 children with autism, including Alex and John, since they received their autism diagnoses. They are characterizing the children by their developmental trajectories—how their symptoms and abilities in multiple domains change over years and even decades. The long-term study may help explain why these two children diverged in their skills despite starting out with similar ones at the time of diagnosis. It may also explain how the traditional labels need to evolve to accurately describe children with autism.”(more)