Asperger’s and High-Functioning Autism: Do Symptoms Improve with Age?
Asperger’s (high functioning autism) is a lifelong developmental disorder, but ironically, most research studies on the disorder have been cross-sectional (i.e., they only provide a snapshot of what it looks like at a single point in time). Why? Because following people with Asperger’s and HFA over long periods of time is expensive and requires a lot effort on the part of families and researchers, which is unfortunate since long-term studies are the only way to understand what early-life factors help some kids with the disorder do better than others over the long haul (something that can’t be assessed in cross-sectional studies). Thanks to new statistical techniques, researchers can now group their study participants based on shared characteristics that unfold over time. A handful of long-term studies, each including up to several hundred participants, have now followed individuals on the autism spectrum for nearly 20 years. As the young people in these studies come of age, res