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Detecting Subgroups in Children Diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified

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Abstract

Hierarchical cluster analyses were used to detect three subgroups in a sample of children with pervasive developmental disorder—not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) evaluated at ages 2 and 4. At age 2, Cluster 1 demonstrated few autism symptoms and high cognitive scores; 60 % no longer met criteria for PDD at 4. Cluster 2 exhibited more autism symptoms and lower cognitive scores at 2; 89.5 % met criteria for ASD at 4. Cluster 3 had the lowest cognitive scores and most impaired social/communication skills at 2, but no repetitive behaviors; 60 % diagnosed with Autistic Disorder at 4. Results shed light on outcomes for different PDD-NOS types and raise questions regarding the increased importance of repetitive behaviors in DSM-5.

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Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to all the children and families for their participation and to the pediatrician sites, as well as Birth-to-Three providers within Connecticut and Massachusetts, who assisted and continue to assist our study. We would like to extend sincere thanks to members of the Early Detection Advisory Board, especially Thyde Dumont-Mathieu, M.D., Ho-Wen Hsu, M.D., and Mark Greenstein, M.D., for their sage advice and support. We would also like to thank the clinicians, graduate students, undergraduate research assistants, and research assistants whose work has been invaluable to the study. This study is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1 HD039961).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA

    Laura Brennan, Marianne Barton, Chi-Ming Chen, James Green & Deborah Fein

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  1. Laura Brennan
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  2. Marianne Barton
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  3. Chi-Ming Chen
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  4. James Green
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  5. Deborah Fein
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Correspondence to Laura Brennan.

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Brennan, L., Barton, M., Chen, CM. et al. Detecting Subgroups in Children Diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 1329–1344 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2295-3

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