Correlates of DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder Levels of Support Ratings in a Clinical Sample

The DSM-5 features level of support ratings for social communication (SC) and restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRB) for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We contrasted cognitive, adaptive, and autism severity scores across SC and RRB groups for 158 individuals with ASD diagnosed in a developmental disabilities clinic. Roughly 46% of individuals were identified by licensed psychologists’ clinical judgement as needing Level 2 SC support and 49% were identified as needing Level 2 RRB support. No individuals were rated as needing a combination of Level 1/Level 3 supports across domains. MANOVA and direct discriminant analysis revealed that both SC and RRB groups showed a graded pattern of higher adaptation/lower autism severity to lower adaptation/higher autism severity from Level 1 to Level 3.