Rates of children identified as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continue to increase in both medical and school settings. While procedures for providing a medical diagnosis are relatively consistent throughout the United States, the process for determining special education eligibility under an ASD classification varies by state, with many states adopting looser identification criteria than medical taxonomies. This study included a sample of 73 school-age children with ASD and sought to examine differences in ASD symptom severity, adaptive functioning, and challenging behaviors between those identified in the medical system versus those identified in schools. Results indicate that children identified as having ASD only by their school had less severe clinician-rated ASD symptomatology than children with a medical ASD diagnosis but that caregiver reports of adaptive functioning and challenging behavior did not differ between the two groups. These findings do not appear to have been influenced by demographic factors including caregiver education, household income, or health insurance status. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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比较具有医学自闭症诊断和自闭症特殊教育资格的儿童之间的自闭症症状严重程度

在医疗和学校环境中，被确定患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童的比率继续增加。虽然提供医疗诊断的程序在美国各地相对一致，但根据 ASD 分类确定特殊教育资格的过程因州而异，许多州采用比医学分类更宽松的识别标准。该研究包括 73 名学龄 ASD 儿童的样本，并试图检查在医疗系统中确定的儿童与在学校确定的儿童在 ASD 症状严重程度、适应性功能和挑战性行为方面的差异。结果表明，仅被学校确定为 ASD 的儿童临床医生评定的 ASD 症状比医学 ASD 诊断的儿童轻，但照顾者报告的适应性功能和挑战性行为在两组之间没有差异。这些发现似乎不受人口统计因素的影响，包括看护者教育、家庭收入或健康保险状况。讨论了未来研究的意义和方向。