What Attributes Determine Severity of Function in Autism? A Web-Based Survey of Stakeholders

Service providers and researchers in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are challenged to categorize clinical variation in function. Classification systems for children with cerebral palsy have enabled clinicians and families to describe levels of function. A web-based survey engaged international ASD stakeholders to advise on considerations of function and constructs needed to classify functional subgroups of preschool children with ASD. All respondents ( n = 56) believed that evaluating function was important; 95% reported that function was one way to subclassify preschool children with ASD. Two domains judged most important were communication language (55%) and social function (22%). Respondent comments indicated that these domains were difficult to disentangle.