Few parents recognize regression in their children with autism

Many children eventually diagnosed with autism lose social skills between 18 months and 3 years of age. But few parents notice this trend, according to data from a large Norwegian study.

Parents notice regression in only 2 percent of the children who lost social skills, according to the study.

The parents answered a questionnaire about their children’s social skills — such as whether the child follows a pointing finger — when their children were 18 and 36 months. The researchers then noted how many parents ‘prospectively’ reported any loss of social skills. At the latter timepoint, the researchers also directly asked the parents if they had noticed a loss of skills. They considered parents answering yes to this question as ‘retrospectively’ noticing the regression.

About 13 percent of the children had lost skills by 36 months, but parents of less than 1 percent noticed a loss.

Read more here at Spectrum.