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Autism spectrum disorders news

Autism spectrum disorders

Researchers work to improve communication support for children with autism

For people with autism—especially those with intellectual disabilities, or others with extensive support needs—communicating needs and ideas can be difficult. Many rely on intense individualized support and educational ...

Genetics

In search for autism's causes, look at genes, not vaccines, researchers say

Earlier this year, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged that the search for autism's cause—a question that has kept researchers busy for the better part of six decades—would be over in just ...

Neuroscience

Protein abnormality illuminates communication struggles in autism

A DGIST research team identified that the mutation of the collybistin protein found in autistic patients weakens the brain's inhibitory synaptic function and leads to communication deficiencies. The results of this research ...

Neuroscience

Study maps brain wiring differences in youth with autism

Researchers at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have uncovered new insights into how brain wiring differs in children and young adults with ...

Autism spectrum disorders

What to know about the CDC's baseless new guidance on autism

The rewriting of a page on the CDC's website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Vaccines 'don't cause autism': How scientists figured that out

In the late 1990s, a theory gripped parents around the world: What if childhood vaccines—particularly the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine—cause autism? Nearly three decades later, the debunked theory has gained ...

Genetics

Gene linked to epilepsy and autism decoded in new study

A genetic change or variant in a gene called SCN2A is a known cause of infantile seizures, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability, as well as a wide range of other moderate-to-profound impairments in mobility, ...

Neuroscience

Study identifies new metric for diagnosing autism

Autism spectrum disorder has yet to be linked to a single cause, due to the wide range of its symptoms and severity. However, a study by University of Virginia researchers suggests a promising new approach to finding answers, ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism and ADHD are linked to disturbed gut flora very early in life

Disturbed gut flora during the first years of life is associated with diagnoses such as autism and ADHD later in life. This is according to a study led by researchers at the University of Florida and Linköping University ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Puppets could offer valuable support for autistic teenagers

Puppets could potentially provide autistic teens with a tool to communicate, express their identity and interact socially in ways that are uniquely their own, according to a new study by Dr. Olivia Karaolis, lecturer in special ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Is eye movement in autism tied to facial recognition?

Some teenagers with autism use a different set of eye-movement patterns from their non-autistic counterparts while recognizing faces, according to James McPartland, Ph.D., Harris Professor in the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism risk may rise with in utero exposure to antiseizure meds

The incidence of autism spectrum disorder is higher among children exposed to topiramate in the second half of pregnancy compared with the general population of children without exposure to antiseizure medications in utero, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

What's the difference between autism and Asperger's disorder?

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg describes herself as having Asperger's while others on the autism spectrum, such as Australian comedian Hannah Gatsby, describe themselves as "autistic". But what's the difference?

Autism spectrum disorders

Motor skills, sensory features differ in autism with, without ADHD

Motor skills and sensory features differ for children with autism with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study published online March 5 in the Journal of Autism and Developmental ...