The researchers undertook the current study as a follow up to an earlier study
they did of adults with autism. The researchers studied children to determine
if the features of autism were consistent throughout life, or changed as people
with autism grow older. For the most part, the current study revealed that both
adults and children with autism experience the same kinds of difficulties with
complex tasks.
One difference is that adults with autism appear to score higher on tests involving
sensory interpretation than do children with autism. Such tests would involve
identifying a number traced on a finger tip, or identifying an object placed
in one?s hand without looking at it. Dr. Minshew said that as people with autism
grow older, they may have less sensory difficulty than they did as children.
Still, adults with autism fare much worse on tests of complex language and reasoning
than do other adults. This gap in complex language and reasoning ability between
the two groups is not as pronounced when children with autism are compared to
other children. This is because children?s brains have not yet developed these
skills, Dr. Minshew said. However, the gap widens with time. As typical children
get older, they develop these higher order language and reasoning skills while
adolescents and adults with autism do not.
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal,
child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical
rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute?s Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research
Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common
and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.