An April 2021 study by the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found
"This study is the first to really develop a quantitative understanding of how each person is unique and how some of their core attributes change in small ways over the third year of their life,"
"Past studies called attention to diagnostic instability at early ages without understanding why this was happening for each child and that these changes are gradual. Children grow in a continuous manner, and we now have a principled way to measure this steady growth and how it may push these children into and out of the diagnostic category of autism."
"Our study clearly shows the inherently dynamic nature of early diagnoses of autism,"
"If we can identify predictive behavioral or neurobiological patterns of children who might have a change in their diagnosis, we may advance current clinical practices and better tailor individualized intervention strategies. Our findings call for more vigilant surveillance and faster initiation of intervention rather than waiting for a categorical diagnosis to begin treatment."