Relatively flat white matter (WM) microstructural changes have been found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 2-7 years yet faster WM microstructural maturation in typically developing (TD) children were observed. In this study, we further investigated the WM structural networks in children with ASD and TD children using diffusion MRI tractography and graph-theory-based analysis. Higher global and local topological efficiencies were found in the ASD. Similar to age-related WM microstructural maturation pattern, the global, local and nodal efficiencies established with structural network increase significantly faster in TD children than those in children with ASD.
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