Fisher discriminant analysis is performed on data sets of typically developing (TD) individuals and data sets of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individuals to produce a model that classifies TD individuals from ASD individuals. The ASD data sets include pre-treatment folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and transsulfuration (TS) pathway metabolic profile data and post-treatment folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) and transsulfuration (TS) pathway metabolic profile data for patients receiving one or more ASD treatments. Changes in adaptive behavior are predicted by utilizing regression of changes in adaptive behavior and changes in biochemical measurements observed in the data sets. Thus, the system can be used to predict the effectiveness of a given course of treatment for an ASD patient based on measured metabolite data of that patient, or to predict the overall effectiveness of a clinical trial based on metabolite data for the trial participants.