Although children with a greater number of autistic traits are likely to have other mental health problems, research on the association between earlier autistic traits in preschool children and later emotional/behavioral outcomes is scarce. Using data from 189 Japanese community-based children, this study examined whether autistic traits at age 5…

Of 135 autistic and/or mentally retarded Tokyo youngsters, 30 with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and 2 with nonautistic mental retardation exhibited school refusal. School refusal was significantly more frequent in other PDDs than in nonautistic mental retardation. The intellectual level was significantly higher in PDD children with…