# Autism and Its Lookalikes: A Case Report of a Child Whose Autism Diagnosis No Longer Fit Years Later

## TL;DR

A child initially diagnosed with autism no longer met the criteria after treatment for ADHD and mood issues, highlighting the importance of reevaluating similar cases.

## Contribution

Demonstrates that some children diagnosed with ASD may actually have other treatable conditions that mimic autism.

## Key findings

- A child diagnosed with ASD at 48 months no longer met ASD criteria at 62 months after ADHD treatment.
- The case suggests the importance of reevaluating children with mild ASD symptoms for alternative diagnoses.
- Medication for ADHD and mood dysregulation led to significant improvement in behaviors resembling ASD.

## Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) involve deficits in social communication and interactions as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors that can be reliably diagnosed in children as young as 14 months old, mostly by 36 months old, although signs of ASD may be present before then.

We present a case of a 5‐year‐old male who was diagnosed with ASD at 48 months and was found to no longer meet criteria for ASD upon reevaluation at 62 months after receiving medication treatment for his underlying attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and severe mood dysregulation.

In this report, we discussed the need to consider a broad differential of diagnoses that may resemble ASD and the need to reevaluate a child for ASD, especially if their ASD symptoms were mild on initial evaluation.