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Regression Versus No Regression in the Autistic Disorder: Developmental Trajectories

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Abstract

Developmental regression is a complex phenomenon which occurs in 20–49% of the autistic population. Aim of the study was to assess possible differences in the development of regressed and non-regressed autistic preschoolers. We longitudinally studied 40 autistic children (18 regressed, 22 non-regressed) aged 2–6 years. The following developmental areas were considered fundamental in the first years of life, and were assessed at ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6: receptive and expressive language, communicative and request modalities, play activities, and mental age. Children who regressed showed lower mean performances than those who did not regress and, in the time intervals considered, non-regressed children improved their ratings in the above mentioned variables significantly more than regressed children.

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Acknowledgment

This study was funded by a grant (COFIN 2003) from MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Via dei Sabelli 108, 00185, Rome, Italy

    P. Bernabei, A. Cerquiglini, F. Cortesi & C. D’Ardia

  2. Via Giulio Adamoli 28, 00147, Rome, Italy

    P. Bernabei

Authors
  1. P. Bernabei
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  2. A. Cerquiglini
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  3. F. Cortesi
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  4. C. D’Ardia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Bernabei.

Appendix

Appendix

Communicative and request modalities (COM)

0: Absence of requests or communications; autonomous behaviour

1: Presence of postural requests, use of body contact, use of eye contact

2: Use of another individual as an instrument

3: Body or eye contact with objects (taking, offering or triangulating)

4: Indicative gesture +/− words

5: Referential gestures +/− words

6: Prevalent use of atypical verbal requests with communicative intentions

Receptive language (RL)

0: Absence of verbal comprehension

1: Comprehension of words or some comprehension of common situational orders

2: Control of contextual orders

3: Control of non-contextual orders

4: Control of two contextual or non-contextual orders in sequence

5: Control 3 or more orders in sequence

6: Control of morpho-syntactic complex structures (coordinated/subordinated)

Expressive language (EL)

0: Absence of words or of comprehensible phonemes

1: Presence of meaningful phonemes

2: Presence of single words

3: Presence of phrases with 2 elements (subject/object, pivot/noun)

4: Presence of phrases with three elements (subject, verb, object)

5: Presence of phrases with four or more elements (subject, verb, object, complement)

6: Presence of tense structures (coordinated, subordinated structures)

Play activities (PLA)

0: Absence of use of objects

1: Manipulation of objects

2: Simple action schemes with objects

3: Functional use of objects

4: Representational use of objects

5: Simple and routine symbolic sequences

6: Complex symbolic sequences

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Bernabei, P., Cerquiglini, A., Cortesi, F. et al. Regression Versus No Regression in the Autistic Disorder: Developmental Trajectories. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 580–588 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0201-3

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