LONGITUDINAL STUDIES IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

“自闭症谱系障碍的纵向研究”项目包括 连续转诊的两个队列的纵向评估 自闭症儿童(110名和83名)，40名协作性队列 患有解体障碍的儿童，以及发育迟缓的 北卡罗来纳州21名儿童迟发性非自闭症对照组和 芝加哥。研究的重点是语言习得的差异性，其 从早期学龄前到中学年龄的相关性和轨迹。 描述和解释收购过程中的巨大差异 自闭症谱系障碍的表达和接受性语言 重要的是因为语言的严肃性可能 延迟/非语言交流可能是一个单独的因素，尽管与 自闭症的主要社会认知缺陷。分类研究， 尤其是关于阿斯伯格综合症的研究表明，虽然语言 延迟通常与自闭症谱系障碍有关，但它不是 必然是一个决定性的因素。最近来自家人和其他人的证据 纵向研究表明，语言延迟可能在一定程度上 与自闭症特有的社会和行为不同的生物学联系 赤字。此外，因为学龄儿童的语言表达能力 是自闭症障碍中最好的结果预测者， 理解有习得和没有习得的儿童的轨迹 流利的语言对临床服务有着直接的意义。 北卡罗来纳州的队列已经在2岁、3岁和4-5岁时进行了评估。这个 建议是在9岁时跟随他们。根据4岁时的临床诊断- 5在最初的131名儿童中，128名儿童中有67名患有自闭症， 30名患有广泛性发育障碍的儿童，未另行说明 以及31名患有非谱系发育迟缓的儿童。年龄观察 9将允许进一步区分语言结果，特别是使用 表现性语言，开始学业成就的衡量标准， 尝试描述行为问题的机会和“共同-- 攻击性和注意力缺陷的发病率，负担的测量 家庭结束更好地理解独立的适应功能和 社交功能。在芝加哥，83名儿童在2岁时被诊断为自闭症 3将在5岁和8-9岁时接受评估。该队列将提供 复制早期和后期关系的机会 在北卡罗来纳州的受试者中看到的诊断，增加样本 为了研究不同的结局，增加对PD-NOS儿童和 允许对选定号码的服务效果进行初步分析 孩子们的生活。将遵循类似的协议来处理解体 有障碍的孩子。重点不是子集，而是更广泛的 考虑表型内的可变性。一定有某种机制 产生的异质性明显发生在与 自闭症谱系障碍。这个项目的目的是要表现出 自闭症谱系障碍发展的意义维度 这可能与神经生物学数据有关，特别是分子和 家庭遗传学，并更好地理解这种异质性。

The project "Longitudinal studies in autism spectrum disorder" consists of longitudinal evaluation of two cohorts of consecutive referrals of two year olds for autism (110 and 83 children), a collaborative cohort of 40 children with disintegrative disorder, as well as a developmentally delayed non-autism comparison group of 21 children in North Carolina and Chicago. The focus is on the divergence of language acquisition, its correlates and trajectories from early preschool to mid school age. Describing and accounting for the wide divergence in the acquisition of expressive and receptive language in autism spectrum disorders is important because of the possibility that severity of language delay/nonverbal communication may be a separate though related factor from the primary social cognitive deficits in autism. Classification studies, particularly concerning Asperger's disorder suggest that while language delay is typically associated with autistic spectrum disorder, it is not necessarily a defining factor. Recent evidence from family and other longitudinal studies indicate that language delay may have somewhat different biological associations than autism-specific social and behavior deficits. In addition, because expressive language skills by school age are the best predictor of outcome within the disorder of autism, understanding the trajectories of children who do and do not acquire fluent speech has direct implication for clinical services. The North Carolina cohort has been evaluated at ages 2, 3 and 4-5. The proposal is to follow them at age 9. Based on clinical diagnoses at age 4- 5 for 128 of the original 131 children, there are 67 children with autism, 30 children with pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified and 31 children with non-spectrum developmental delays. Observation at age 9 will allow further differentiation of language outcome, particularly use of expressive language, measurement of beginning academic achievement, the opportunity to attempt to characterize behavior problems and "co- morbidity" of aggression and attention deficit, measurement of burden on family end better understanding of independent adaptive functioning and social functioning. In Chicago, 83 children referred for autism at ages 2 and 3 will be evaluated at ages 5 and 8-9. The cohort will provide the opportunity to replicate the relationship between early and later diagnosis seen in the North Carolina subjects, increase the sample in order to study divergent outcome, add a focus on children with PD-NOS and allow prelimInary analyses of the effect of services for a selected number of children. A similar protocol will be followed for the disintegrative disorder children. The emphasis is not on subset but rather broader consideration of variability within the phenotype. Some mechanism must be generating the heterogeneity that clearly occurs in association with autism spectrum disorders. The purpose of this project is to characterize dimensions of significance in development within autism spectrum disorder that can be related to neurobiological data, in particular molecular and family genetics, and to better understand this heterogeneity.