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Autism spectrum disorders news

Autism spectrum disorders

Autism practitioners move beyond traditional demographics toward adaptive environments

At the grocery store, a mother guides her child down the cereal aisle. Nearby, a man studies a list on his phone while a cashier rings up a customer's order with precision. Amid these ordinary scenes, there is likely someone ...

Autism spectrum disorders

How can people with autism and social anxiety understand others' emotions better?

A smile, tears in your eyes or a blush on your cheeks: We understand one another better by mirroring one another's emotions. In her Ph.D. dissertation, Julia Folz concludes that people with autism or social anxiety can be ...

Neuroscience

Dopamine linked to autism symptoms in mouse model study

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have uncovered new insights into the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study, recently published in Cell Reports, explores how changes in dopamine (DA) neurotransmission ...

Genetics

New findings expand genetic knowledge of autism underpinnings

Hundreds of novel genetic variants across an ancestrally diverse cohort of 195 families, including 222 people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have been identified by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, expanding ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Autistic children left behind during pandemic school closures

Many children with autism or intellectual disability had poor attendance or even deregistered from school, often due to unmet needs, after their schools switched to online learning, reports a study and associated policy briefing ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Guidelines for inclusive language in autism research

In the decades since the "clinical" definitions of autism in the 1980s, many have been advocating to understand autism as a normal part of the neurodiversity spectrum rather than as a "problem" to be "fixed." Still, in the ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Therapy dogs aren't always the answer to help children with autism

Some children with autism spectrum disorder struggle with anxiety or have difficulty communicating in certain social situations. To help alleviate those struggles, researchers have studied various interventions, including ...

Autism spectrum disorders

How do we make workplaces work for autistic people?

The unemployment rate in Australia for autistic people is 34.1%, according to the most recent data. This is more than three times the rate for people with disability (10.3%) and almost eight times the rate of people without ...

Medications

Anti-diarrhea medication may help treat core autism symptoms

There are currently no effective treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), such as difficulties with socializing and communicating. A new study uses a computer-based protein interaction network to ...

Medical research

Studies of autism tend to exclude women, researchers find

In recent years, researchers who study autism have made an effort to include more women and girls in their studies. However, despite these efforts, most studies of autism consistently enroll small numbers of female subjects ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Clear expectations are instrumental for employees with autism

In addition to combating stigma in the workplace, employees with autism are challenged with navigating systems developed for the neurotypical. This means that supervisors and employees have fundamentally different understandings ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Extent of developmental delays varies with autism

Developmental milestone progress in autism varies substantially under different conditions, according to a study published online July 18 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Autism spectrum disorders

U. Michigan study to help those with autism improve driving

University of Michigan researchers are studying how well people with autism spectrum disorder can detect road hazards, and plan to assist the young motorists in sharpening their driving skills.

Autism spectrum disorders

Eye test could screen children for autism

Measuring how the eyes' pupils change in response to light—known as the pupillary light reflex—could potentially be used to screen for autism in young children, according to a study conducted at Washington State University.