The question of how stable an autism diagnosis is over time has long been debated. While many families and clinicians view an autism diagnosis as lifelong, research suggests that diagnostic stability—how consistently a diagnosis persists over time—depends heavily on which diagnostic framework is used. Emerging evidence indicates that before the introduction of the broader ASD category in the DSM-5  (APA 2013), autism diagnoses were more stable and predictable. Before DSM-5: D

Let’s start with linguistics: The way we label things around us means a great deal. Let’s look at the widely used terms in an ‘autistic...