Spectrum
Hypersensitivity, hearing problems could lead to early autism diagnosis
Many individuals with autism have hearing problems. In fact, Leo Kanner included this trait in his original description of autism. The type ...
Latest results for once-promising behavioral therapy for autism called ‘extremely disappointing’
A much-touted behavioral therapy for autism, the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), may not be as effective as its creators ...
Autism often accompanied by ADHD, anxiety and other conditions
Behavioral conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) crop up in about one in three autistic people within 15 ...
New blood test for autism criticized as ‘not appropriate’ for clinical use
Doctors can now order a blood test that its makers say may help flag autism, but experts say the test ...
Drugs developed as cancer treatments show promise against autism
An experimental compound that blocks two enzymes involved in gene expression improves social behavior in young mice, according to a ...
Genetic study sheds light on heritability of autism risk
A new analysis of DNA from more than 20,000 people with autism identifies 12 regions in the genome that harbor ...
Searching for autism clues in the placenta
Activation of a mother’s immune system during pregnancy can increase the risk of autism in her child. New clues to ...
Demand surges for genetic autism testing in Europe
In France, some two-thirds of autistic children receive some kind of genetic test, paid for by the national health service ...
Autism linked to the nerves that regulate heart rate
The part of the nervous system that regulates heart rate and breathing is involved in autism, a new study suggests ...
Genetic tests for autistic people could ‘substantially alter the course of treatments’
Almost as soon as James was born in April 2003, it was clear that he was not well. When he ...
Examining the link between autism and gender noncomformity
Traits associated with autism and gender variance co-occur even among typical children, a new study suggests. The finding may ease ...
Autism, attention deficit disorder share ‘significant’ genetic links, sibling study shows
Children who have an older sibling with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at an increased risk of having autism, ...
Mapping autism’s genetic origins through massive analysis offers new research tool
The largest genetic analysis of postmortem brain tissue to date has yielded maps of when and where genes are turned ...
Why post-traumatic stress disorder in children can be diagnosed as autism
All I knew at first was that Jeremy’s mother wanted her son assessed for autism. The boy had been a ...
How autistic children overcome the challenge of understanding how others view the world
To understand another person’s point of view, children with autism need to actively suppress their own, a new study suggests ...
Delayed diagnosis? In some children, autism traits become ‘significantly more pronounced over time’
Some autistic children don’t show traits of the condition until age 5 or later, new research suggests. Others show a ...
Viewpoint: Why we need to better understand sexual orientation, gender identity in autism
In contemporary media, portrayals of autistic people are typically stereotyped and conventional: heterosexual, cisgender and, more often than not, naïve ...
Rewired brain: Faulty autism gene may affect expression of other genes
TBR1 is among a select set of genes with strong ties to autism. The new findings explain that connection: Mutations in TBR1 may disrupt ...
Meet Grunya Sukhareva, the forgotten woman who defined autism
[In 1924,] a gifted young doctor, Grunya Efimovna Sukhareva, saw [a 12-year-old] boy. Caring and attentive, she observed him with ...
Understanding environmental risk factors for autism: What’s real and what’s not
Here, we explain why it is difficult to link autism to environmental factors, and what scientists know about how the ...
Tracking autism: ‘Recalibrated’ test may better reflect progression over time
A recalibrated version of a widely used test for autism may accurately reflect autistic children’s development as they grow and ...
Severe autism linked to lower serotonin levels in mothers
Women whose children are severely autistic have lower serotonin levels than do those whose children have mild or moderate autism ...
Autism and chemical messenger receptors: Study challenges popular theory
New results from brain scans of adults with autism are at odds with the popular theory that autism involves weak ...
‘In someone else’s shoes’: How virtual reality is altering autism research, treatment
For more than two decades, scientists have experimented with [virtual reality] to set up controlled scenarios to study autistic traits. At the ...
Gene therapy for autism? Rare Angelman syndrome could answer key questions
[T]he success of genetic therapies [for autism] is not guaranteed. Even if disrupted genes can be replaced, repaired or otherwise ...
Tracing the impact of genetics on autism
Autism is more heritable than anorexia, alcohol dependence, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to an analysis of data from nearly ...
Why do siblings of children with autism also have social problems?
Even typical siblings of children with autism tend to struggle with anxiety, depression and social difficulties, according to a large ...
How brain scans of sleeping mice could help identify various types of autism in humans
Autism features vary considerably from one person to the next. One of the biggest challenges in autism research is to ...