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Autism Spectrum Disorders

State with one of highest rates of autism turns out to be in normal range

When New Jersey reported one of the nation's highest rates of autism last year - doubling in six years to one in 49 children - researchers described it as "beyond an emergency." But a federal study released this past week ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 26, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Human emotion: We report our feelings in 3-D

Like it or not and despite the surrounding debate of its merits, 3-D is the technology du jour for movie-making in Hollywood. It now turns out that even our brains use 3 dimensions to communicate emotions.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Is Obama's plan to map the human brain this generation's equivalent to landing a man on the moon?

President John F. Kennedy's mission in 1960 was to land a man on the moon. President Bill Clinton made cracking the human genome one of his top priorities. Now, President Barack Obama says a detailed map ...

Neuroscience created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Prevalence of parent-reported autism up in school children

(HealthDay)—The prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in school-aged children appears to have increased, but that may be due to new diagnoses in children whose ASD had previously ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Older grandfathers pass on autism risk through generations, study says

Men who have children at older ages are more likely to have grandchildren with autism compared to younger grandfathers, according to new research. This is the first time that research has shown that risk factors for autism ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Humanoid robot helps train children with autism

"Aiden, look!" piped NAO, a two-foot tall humanoid robot, as it pointed to a flat-panel display on a far wall. As the cartoon dog Scooby Doo flashed on the screen, Aiden, a young boy with an unruly thatch ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Atypical brain circuits may cause slower gaze shifting in infants who later develop autism

Infants at 7 months of age who go on to develop autism are slower to reorient their gaze and attention from one object to another when compared to 7-month-olds who do not develop autism, and this behavioral ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Drug treatment corrects autism symptoms in mouse model

Autism results from abnormal cell communication. Testing a new theory, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used a newly discovered function of an old drug to restore cell communications ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (16) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Team finds age-related changes in how autism affects the brain

Newly released findings from Bradley Hospital published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have found that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect the brain activity of children and ad ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Autistic children may be at greater risk of suicide ideation and attempts, study says

(Medical Xpress)—Children with an autism spectrum disorder may be at greater risk for contemplating suicide or attempting suicide than children without autism, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 12, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Engineering and autism: Chemical engineer investigates autism spectrum disorders

(Medical Xpress)—The University of Delaware's Prasad Dhurjati is a chemical engineer whose background includes systems engineering, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Yet recently, he has been investigating autism ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 05, 2013 | popularity 2 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Speech emerges in children with autism and severe language delay at greater rate than thought

New findings published in Pediatrics (Epub ahead of print) by the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a hist ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 04, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Huge hospital burden for kids with intellectual disability

New research from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has shown that children with an intellectual disability or autism are up to ten times more likely to be admitted to hospital than unaffected children.

Pediatrics created Mar 01, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Children with autism show increased positive social behaviors when animals are present

The presence of an animal can significantly increase positive social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), according to research published February 20 in the open access journal PLOS ON ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Feb 27, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

'Network' analysis of the brain may explain features of autism

A look at how the brain processes information finds a distinct pattern in children with autism spectrum disorders. Using EEGs to track the brain's electrical cross-talk, researchers from Boston Children's ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Feb 27, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


The term "autism spectrum" is often used to describe disorders that are currently classified as pervasive developmental disorders. Pervasive developmental disorders include autism, Asperger syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. These disorders are typically characterized by social deficits, communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests, and/or cognitive delays. Although these diagnoses share some common features, individuals with these disorders are thought to be "on the spectrum" because of differences in severity across these domains.

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