Fattal-Valevski A, Kramer U, Leitner Y, Nevo Y, Greenstein Y, Harel S
The Institute for Child Development and Pediatric Neurology Unit, Division of Pediatrics, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 1999 Jan;41(1):21-5. doi: 10.1017/s0012162299000055.
To summarize our 10-year experience with autistic children at the Tel Aviv Child Development Center, the files of all 55 children with autism treated at our center over a 10-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Particular attention was addressed to the value of the medical work-up in detecting the etiology of autism and to factors differentiating infantile autism (IA) from autistic-like behavior (ALB). Twenty-four subjects (44%) had IA and 31 (56%) had ALB. These subgroups were compared for demographic, perinatal, familial, neurological, and psychological findings, and outcome at discharge. Associated medical conditions and the yield of metabolic work-up and neuroimaging and electroencephalography studies are discussed. The two subgroups differed only in severity of autistic symptoms and cognitive function (P<0.05), but not in demographic or neurobiological findings. It was concluded that IA and ALB are similar conditions, and autism has a wide continuum of clinical expressions.
