Spectrum: Autism Research News

Children with autism who have older siblings score lower on tests that assess their understanding of the thoughts, feelings and intentions of others, compared with those who don’t have older siblings.

The first comprehensive autism study in South Korea has found that the prevalence of the disorder is more than double the number in the United States.

A new documentary blasts misperceptions about nonverbal people with autism, showing that they are capable of intelligence, wit and empathy even as their disorder chains them “like a beast.”

Of 72 newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7 work either directly on autism or in related areas, illustrating the growing intellectual breadth and depth of the field.

Short questionnaires that parents can fill out at a pediatrician’s office flag early signs of autism in infants and toddlers well before the disorder is usually diagnosed, according to two new studies.

Family support groups may be the best messengers to convey the urgent need for brain tissue in autism research, say scientists struggling with inadequate resources.

A mysterious cluster of sudden deaths among young people who had a genetic syndrome is drawing attention to the high rate of unexplained deaths in individuals with autism and epilepsy.

As awareness about autism has spread in California, lower-income families have become more likely to seek a diagnosis of autism, says a new study.

People with autism are better able to visualize objects rotating in space — perhaps because their brains are wired differently than healthy controls.

Early trauma alters both behavior and gene expression in three generations of mice, suggesting that epigenetic changes may contribute to ‘hidden heritability’ in neuropsychiatric disorders.