Ben-Gurion University researchers find two groups of children with delayed autism diagnoses and why

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, February 11, 2025 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev psychology researchers have found two groups of children who received delayed autism diagnoses. The earlier children are diagnosed - ideally in the first two to three years of life - the better their social communication and integration due to early intervention.

Autism rates are growing, reaching 1 in 36 kids in the US, which is approximately one child in every class.

Prof. Florina Uzefovsky of the Department of Psychology and her colleagues analyzed the Simons Foundations database of 20,000 children with autism. It emerged from the data that there were two groups of children who were diagnosed after 6 years of age (i.e. delayed diagnosis). The first group presented with fewer core and co-occurring symptoms. The other group presented with many additional symptoms and diagnoses, so that autism might have been missed or misdiagnosed as something else.

Most children (75%) were diagnosed before the age of 6, but 25% were not.

Their findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics (10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.6075) last month.

"The power of these findings is that they emerged from the data rather than confirming a hypothesis, allowing us to avoid preconceptions about autism," says Prof. Uzefovsky.

Additional researchers included: Dan Aizenberg of BGU's Department of Life Sciences, Ido Shalev of the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Alal Eran of Boston Children's Hospital.

The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant no. 2755\20).