Some kids with severe autism may "bloom" out of disorder

(CBS News) Although most children with autism keep that diagnosis through teenage years and beyond, a new study suggests some kids might just "bloom" out of the developmental disability.

Complete Coverage: Latest Developments in Autism

The study found about one in ten children diagnosed with severe forms of autism may shed many symptoms of the disorder by the time they turn 8-years-old.

The study, published in the April 2 issue of Pediatrics, examined the behavioral development of nearly 7,000 children with autism who were born in California between 1992 and 2001. Researchers were looking to track each child's development when it came to communication and social and repetitive behaviors until they were 14 years old.

What did they find? Some children improved rapidly, especially when it came to communication and social development. But the researchers also found other children with autism developed much slower, and did not show significant improvement in these areas by the time they became teens. Most improvements in autism symptoms occurred before the child turned 6, and children's repetitive behavior trajectories appeared to remain stable across the board, the researchers said.

However one finding jumped out: Almost 10 percent of kids, who the researchers called "bloomers", improved especially quickly and moved from "severely affected" to "high functioning," by age 8, as if they bloomed out of the disorder.

"We were really pleased that there is this group, which is relatively small but significant, who are able to improve so quickly," study author Christine Fountain, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, told HealthDay. "It's going to provide a hopeful message for parents [of autistic children]. We need more research to find exactly what's going on to make these children bloom."

The researchers determined children with autism may display one of six different development patterns when it comes to their behavior. What makes children with autism develop in such different ways compared to one another? The researchers weren't certain, but said children on the highest trajectories tended to have more educated, wealthier white parents. Children whose parents had the lowest socioeconomic status were much less likely to bloom, compared with advantaged families.

The study authors say equal access to treatments whether parents are poor or rich - especially when it comes to early intervention - is vital to improve treatment resources for children with autism.

About 1 in 88 U.S. children have autism, according to recent CDC estimates.

Dr. Rahil Briggs, assistant professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said parents must become aggressive and campaign for their children with autism.

"So much can depend on how good that parent is at advocating for the child," Briggs told Time Healthland. "That puts an incredible burden on parents."

Other experts agreed.

"Most children need about 30 to 40 hours a week of intervention," Dr. Tamar Apelian, a staff psychologist at the autism evaluation clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles, told MSNBC. "What's tricky is being able to navigate the system to get the therapy, especially with the state budget crisis. The parents who do this seem to have more means and they can hire an advocate or a lawyer."

Because experts tout the benefits of early intervention, the CDC recommends parents "Learn the Signs" of a child's development and "Act Early" if parents suspect something.

Click here for early signs of autism in infants under 12-months-old.

Complete coverage of World Autism Awareness Day and the latest developments and research can be found on CBSNews.com.

10 Photos

Autism-friendly theater: The Lion King on Broadway

[CanadaMom]

Ironically, the boy pictured in this stock photo is the son of a friend of mine. This boy had early onset autism, although he also regressed even further as a toddler and was diagnosed by a team of specialists at 3.5 years as autistic (not PDD-NOS, not Aspergers, but full blown autism). Now however, five years later, he is a chatty, calm boy with friends. Even a best friend. Why? Well, his mom is white, but certainly not wealthy. She may have pursued, but did not receiveany traditional therapies. No ABA, no speech therapy. What this child got was the benefit of his mom's certainty that her son's autism was nothing more than severe symptoms of underlying complex medical problems. She has spent the last few years researching how to identify and then treat these medical problems. Her relentless efforts, the support of a few medical professionals willing and able to help, and the research being done by people who know for a fact that autism is not necessarily a life-long diagnosis, changed her son's life completely. Or, perhaps more accurately, gave him back the life he was supposed to have in the first place. She did this. This boy did not magically bloom out of autism. Without his mom's hard work his trajectory would have been very different. I suspect the same is true for those Californian children in this study who made such great progress. I doubt it is a coincidence that California is home to Autism Research Institute, Generation Rescue, and Talk About Curing Autism. If there is a place on the planet with a high population of parents who know that biomedical treatments can improve the quality of life of a child with autism, even recover a child completely, it's California. Autism is treatable. In choosing a random stock photo, the writer of this article proved it.

[andycutler]

Yes. Some children recover from autism. It isn't random. It isn't due to ABA. It isn't anything the authors of this study will report.

The children who recover are the ones whose parents seek 'alternative medicine' care for them like chelation. They recover. The ones whose parents listen to the same doctors who poisoned their baby into autism with vaccines do not improve or recover.

People who want their child to recover would do well to find the autism-mercury group on yahoo dot com, or to check out noamalgam.com or fightautismandwin.com.

People who want their child to stay autistic should continue to rely on regular doctors and read studies that leave out all the important information, like this one does.

[leslie1204]

Oh Andy,

Your arrogant sarcasm is off-putting. Autism is a behavioral disorder with many underlying causes; vaccine and mercury poisoning being only ONE cause. And there isn't one parent out there who wants their child to stay autistic, so drop the act. I've known several parents in our small California community who chased their tails with your counting rules and ALA chelation, only to see no change in their child. Breaking news: For many children, metals is NOT the problem.

Of course parents should not rely solely on conventional doctors. Everyone should pursue other avenues and do their own research, but they'd certainly be remiss to blindly follow you, like so many of them sadly do, and still have very affected children.

[Lesa1972]

I had to sit back for a minute to absorb the content of this article. Since it doesn't specify exactly what interventions and/or therapies were used by these families, I'm going to have to guess. Wow, if only my husband and I had known we just needed to "sprinkle a little Miracle Grow" on his eggs, cereal or burgers to help him "bloom" his way out of Autism! Sheesh! Fools that we are, we've used a combination of Biomedical Intervention, PT, OT, Speech, Play Therapy, Social Skills Group, Aquatherapy, Hippotherapy, HBOT, Chiropractic Care, Cranio-Sacral Therapy and more. Just think, we could have taken more than 1 vacation in the last 10 years, maybe gone out on a date night once or twice a month, not bought all our clothes on the clearance rack, not have given up our home in NY 7 years ago and not have had to struggle thru the most recent Short Sale of our home last month. With all of that, our son has traveled from the pediatrician declaration of, "There's no hope for your child; you need to institutionalize him; the sooner, the better" to receiving a a letter from the county school board stating that he has met all their requirements and will be officially graduating with a regular diploma! So, it was worth every penny and drop of sweat to us, but, sigh, could he have done much more if we had only let him "bloom"!! Or, perhaps we still need to work on getting the "Powers that Be" to recognize that Biomedical Therapies do help children improve and recover from Autism. I'm sorry if this is snarky and sarcastic, but after listening to the recent ASD numbers from the CDC and suffering thru the "Light it Up Blue" campaign, snarky is the best I can muster right now.

[Lesa1972]

I had to sit back for a minute to absorb the content of this article. Since it doesn't specify exactly what interventions and/or therapies were used by these families, I'm going to have to guess. Wow, if only my husband and I had known we just needed to "sprinkle a little Miracle Grow" on his eggs, cereal or burgers to help him "bloom" his way out of Autism! Sheesh! Fools that we are, we've used a combination of Biomedical Intervention, PT, OT, Speech, Play Therapy, Social Skills Group, Aquatherapy, Hippotherapy, HBOT, Chiropractic Care, Cranio-Sacral Therapy and more. Just think, we could have taken more than 1 vacation in the last 10 years, maybe gone out on a date night once or twice a month, not bought all our clothes on the clearance rack, not have given up our home in NY 7 years ago and not have had to struggle thru the most recent Short Sale of our home last month. With all of that, our son has traveled from the pediatrician declaration of, "There's no hope for your child; you need to institutionalize him; the sooner, the better" to receiving a a letter from the county school board stating that he has met all their requirements and will be officially graduating with a regular diploma! So, it was worth every penny and drop of sweat to us, but, sigh, could he have done much more if we had only let him "bloom"!! Or, perhaps we still need to work on getting the "Powers that Be" to recognize that Biomedical Therapies do help children improve and recover from Autism. I'm sorry if this is snarky and sarcastic, but after listening to the recent ASD numbers from the CDC and suffering thru the "Light it Up Blue" campaign, snarky is the best I can muster right now.

[BW2278]

Yes, there are some children who are able to eventually lose their autism diagnosis. However, they do not just magically "bloom", they go through years of intensive biomedical treatments, along with dietary changes, traditional treatments and all at great cost to their families. It is a struggle and stressful, but in some cases a child can make enough improvements to no longer fit the criteria for autism. Those in the autism community understand that this article doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. Mainstream medicine and the federal government need to understand these treatments and therapies and make them more affordable and available to all those with autism, so that more can improve and some even lose their diagnosis.

[frautracey]

The word isn't bloom out of autism...it is recover. The full potential for each child to recover depends on how severe their damage is from what are environmental factors that vary from child to child...similiar to allergies...not everyone is allergic to nuts. My son has been helped my biomedical treatments, special diet, sound therapy...alot not covered my insurance and alot not shared by mainstream medicine. I am forever thankful to Talk About Curing Autism, Generation Rescue and Autism One, along with a great mentor, who showed me the road to recovery. I am still on it, but it's not hard as the road is well traveled. Shout out to my husband,DAN doctor's, therapists and teachers and school staff who have supported us along the way. Dr. Wakefield and family..thank you.

[rwsmith29456]

Another mystery to solve. I've heard so much now I'm confused. Has autism increased or was it diagnosed before as some kind of retardation?

[andycutler]

It has increased. Doctors cause it by giving vaccines.

[kleighc2001]

Not too sure why this study took up funding dollars. Seems to be a no-brainer to me. If you are better educated, you are more likely to know something is wrong with your child. Much as if you have education, you have a better job, better jobs tend to have better insurance, better insurance gets you to the doctor every year, getting to the doctor every year allows for testing and changes in tests, SO this allows people to get early intervention if there is an issue, allowing them to survive or be treated. This is the case with autism. I was lucky enough to be a teacher and I knew when something was wrong with my girls. I knew the signs, and thank goodness I did. Had I listened to my friends, I would have ignored the concerns and avoided therapy that has changed their lives. When therapies, doctors, and other services run upwards of 50-75K per child, it is easy to see why treatment is had by everyone. Pay now or pay later. If these children do not get the services they need in the form of early intervention, you will pay for them in disablity for the rest of their lives. It is a sad reality, but reality nonetheless. www.puzzlepieceprincess.com

[kleighc2001]

Not too sure why this study took up funding dollars. Seems to be a no-brainer to me. If you are better educated, you are more likely to know something is wrong with your child. Much as if you have education, you have a better job, better jobs tend to have better insurance, better insurance gets you to the doctor every year, getting to the doctor every year allows for testing and changes in tests, SO this allows people to get early intervention if there is an issue, allowing them to survive or be treated. This is the case with autism. I was lucky enough to be a teacher and I knew when something was wrong with my girls. I knew the signs, and thank goodness I did. Had I listened to my friends, I would have ignored the concerns and avoided therapy that has changed their lives. When therapies, doctors, and other services run upwards of 50-75K per child, it is easy to see why treatment is had by everyone. Pay now or pay later. If these children do not get the services they need in the form of early intervention, you will pay for them in disablity for the rest of their lives. It is a sad reality, but reality nonetheless. www.puzzlepieceprincess.com