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Infantile autism and puberty

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Abstract

While the prognosis for autistic children is generally poor, some show substantial improvement during childhood. In a Swedish sample of five cases deterioration or severe symptom aggravation at the onset of puberty is described that followed earlier improvement. Autistic children with pubertal deterioration may constitute a meaningful subgroup of the syndrome. The matter deserves more attention in future follow-up studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Youth Psychiatry, University of Goteborg, East Hospital, 416 85, Göteborg, Sweden

    Christopher Gillberg & Helen Schaumann

Authors
  1. Christopher Gillberg
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  2. Helen Schaumann
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Additional information

This work has been supported by the Radda Barnens Riksforbund, Sweden.

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Gillberg, C., Schaumann, H. Infantile autism and puberty. J Autism Dev Disord 11, 365–371 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531612

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531612

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