Spectrum: Autism Research News

Characterizing the interaction between brain networks that govern attention and reward may help classify subgroups of people with autism.

People with autism may ignore visual input when coordinating their movements — a lapse that may contribute to both motor and social impairments.

A $28 million initiative aims to develop objective tools for tracking social skills in children with autism. The initiative’s leader outlines its approach.

The brains of young children with autism show abnormally dense connections involving the frontal lobe. The excess wiring may disrupt the development of social and language circuits.

Some infants who are later diagnosed with autism have trouble holding up their heads or following objects with their eyes as early as 6 months of age.

The National Institutes of Health is reviving a defunct study that aimed to identify environmental risk factors for autism and other childhood disorders. Some researchers say the do-over is unlikely to live up to the original project’s promise.

A training regimen that improves reading comprehension also boosts connectivity in language areas of the brains of children with autism.

Women who are overweight while pregnant have an increased risk of having a child with autism. But a new study suggests that genetics, not the obesity per se, underlies the association.

Are scientists doing enough to communicate their findings — and explain their findings’ importance — to families affected by autism? The answer, suggests a new study, is no.

A new study points to a possible link between inflammation in the womb, brain overgrowth and the behavioral impairments seen in autism.