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Brief Report: Lack of Correlation Between Age of Symptom Onset and Contemporaneous Presentation

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Abstract

The parents/guardians of 50 individuals were surveyed using a semistructured interview to determine the feasibility of this method and to establish ages of symptom onset. Thirty-eight informants were able to recall sufficient detail to allow categorization of the age of symptom onset. Chi-square analysis confirmed a significant association between investigators' categorization and informants' categorization. Contemporaneous presentation was indexed using Childhood Autism Rating Scale, the Autism Behavior Checklist, the Conners Hyperactivity Index, and the Ritvo-Freeman Real Life Rating Scale for Autism. No significant correlations were determined between any of these indices of symptom severity and age of symptom onset.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Glenwood Incorporated, Birmingham, Alabama

    Lelland Tolbert, Rachel Brown, Pearlie Fowler & Dee Parsons

  2. The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama

    Lelland Tolbert & Dee Parsons

Authors
  1. Lelland Tolbert
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  2. Rachel Brown
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  3. Pearlie Fowler
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  4. Dee Parsons
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Tolbert, L., Brown, R., Fowler, P. et al. Brief Report: Lack of Correlation Between Age of Symptom Onset and Contemporaneous Presentation. J Autism Dev Disord 31, 241–245 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010763502253

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010763502253

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