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Thirty, 2-year-old children referred for possible autism were evaluated using a parent interview, a rating scale and psychometric tests and reassessed one year later. Clinical diagnosis was relatively stable across time; diagnosis using the formal measures changed significantly, particularly for younger and more developmentally delayed children. Several patterns contributed to the increasing differentiation of children with autism from age 2 to 3, including the development of clearly recognizable, repetitive behaviors in the autistic children and significant improvements in basic social skills in the children judged not to be autistic.
Catherine Lord (Wed,) studied this question.