In general, higher IQs are correlated with greater responsiveness to treatment and improved treatment outcomes. Services should be carried out by behavior analysts, special education teachers, speech pathologists, and licensed psychologists. Intensive, sustained special education programs and behavior therapy early in life often improves functioning and decreases symptom severity and maladaptive behaviors; claims that intervention by around age three years is crucial are not substantiated.No known medication relieves autisms core symptoms of social and communication impairments. Education
Early, intensive ABA therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing communication and adaptive functioning in preschool children; it is also well-established for improving the intellectual performance of that age group. It is not known whether treatment programs for children lead to significant improvements after the children grow up, and the limited research on the effectiveness of adult residential programs shows mixed results. Alternative medicine
Although many alternative therapies and interventions were used, few are supported by scientific studies. Treatment approaches have little empirical support in quality-of-life contexts, and many programs focus on success measures that lack predictive validity and real-world relevance. Some alternative treatments placed autistic individuals at risk. For example, in 2005, a five-year-old child with autism was killed by botched chelation therapy (which is not recommended for autism as risks outweigh any potential benefits). Epidemiology
Globally, classic autism was understood to affect an estimated 24.8 million people as of 2015.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of classic autism was based on behavioral symptoms, not cause or mechanism. Classification
Classic autism was listed as autistic disorder in the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Associations diagnostic manual, as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). However, the PDDs were collapsed into the single diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2013, and the WHOs diagnostic manual ICD-11 (which had listed it as childhood autism in its previous edition) followed suit a few years later. Classic autism was said to be characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, severely restricted interests, and highly repetitive behavior.Of the PDDs, Asperger syndrome was closest to classic autism in signs and likely causes; Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder share several signs with it, but were understood to potentially have unrelated causes; PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; also called atypical autism) was diagnosed when the criteria are not met for one of the other four PDDs. People would usually attract a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome rather than classic autism if they showed no substantial delay in language development, but early language ability was found to be a poor predictor of outcomes in adulthood. Prognosis and management
There is no known cure for autism, and very little research addressed long-term prognosis for classic autism. Many autistic children lack social support, future employment opportunities or self-determination.The main goals when treating autistic children are to lessen associated deficits and family distress, and to increase quality of life and functional independence.