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Brief Report: DSM-5 “Levels of Support:” A Comment on Discrepant Conceptualizations of Severity in ASD
Open accessAbstract
Proposed DSM-5 revisions to the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include a "severity" marker based on degree of impairment. Although qualitative differences between support levels are described, quantitative methods or practice recommendations for differentiating between levels remain undetermined. This leaves the field vulnerable to potential discrepancies between severity categorizations that may have inadvertent service implications. We examined overlap between mild, moderate, and severe impairment classifications based on autism symptoms, cognitive skills, and adaptive functioning in 726 participants (15 months-17 years) with ASD. Participants with mild, moderate, and severe autism symptoms demonstrated varying levels of adaptive and cognitive impairment. These discrepancies highlight the need for a clearly elucidated method of classifying level of support in ASD diagnosis.
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“This heterogeneity can make it dif fi cult for physicians to consistently identify early signs of developmental delays and/or ASD in children.”
From Tackling healthcare access barriers for individuals with autism from diagnosis to adulthood (2022) · cites this paper as [50]
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“Though it is widely recognized that substantial variability exists in symptom severity among individuals with ASD, it can be very difficult to separate ASD-related severity from IQ and language level (e.g., see Weitlauf et al. 2014).”
From Recent Advances in Autism Research as Reflected in DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Weitlauf et al. 2014
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“Weitlauf et al. (2014) used retrospective data analysis to compare three levels of severity across the ADOS comparison score, cognitive ability, and adaptive functioning and found significant discrepancies.”
From Recent Advances in Autism Research as Reflected in DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Weitlauf et al. 2014
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“Concordance was highest for individuals classified as 'severe' across all three measures, whereas agreement between the measures was much lower for individuals scoring in the mild or moderate ranges.”
From Recent Advances in Autism Research as Reflected in DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Weitlauf et al. 2014
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“Though it is widely recognized that substantial variability exists in symptom severity among individuals with ASD, it can be very difficult to separate ASD-related severity from IQ and language level (e.g., see Weitlauf et al. 2014).”
From Recent Advances in Autism Research as Reflected in DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Weitlauf et al. 2014
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Lord, C., Elsabbagh, M., Baird, G., & Veenstra-Vanderweele, J. (2018) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31129-2 · Cited by 2,819
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Tackling healthcare access barriers for individuals with autism from diagnosis to adulthood
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The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Toddler Module: Standardized Severity Scores
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Metadata
- Authors
- Weitlauf, A. S., Gotham, K. O., Vehorn, A. C., & Warren, Z. E.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weitlauf, Amy S.
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2013-06-28
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 471-476
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- PMC
- PMC3989992
- OpenAlex
- W2006191265
- Cited by
- 233
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 84 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 3.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Autism Research Institute
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000445)
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018921, R01MH100030)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024975)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30HD015052)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, DSM-5, severity classification, support levels, diagnostic criteria, adaptive behavior, cognitive impairment, autism symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Severity of Illness Index, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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