Researchers in Minneapolis and Sweden are investigating reports of so-called autism clusters among children from immigrant Somali populations. Some scientists say the clusters may be the result of a vitamin D deficiency ― a largely untested hypothesis.
In the fall of 2006, Liz and Peter Bell started to notice behavioral and neurological regression in their 13-year-old son, Tyler.
Genetic research in the past few years has revealed that autism unexpectedly shares common roots with cancer. Based on these intriguing findings, some researchers are turning to rapamycin, a proven cancer drug, as a potential treatment for autism.
Many cases of autism originate not in the brain, but in the gut, according to a few controversial studies published in the past year.
In the late 1960s, as an undergraduate student in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Cathy Lord spent a couple of hours a day teaching two young boys with autism.
Repetitive behaviors seen in adults with autism are associated with abnormal activity in the ‘executive’ brain system, which is responsible for attention, planning and for inhibiting inappropriate behaviors, according to an imaging study published in May.
Children with autism may show signs of the disease when they are younger than a year old, say some scientists.
Sitting on a sofa in his office at the Yale Child Study Center, Ami Klin plays a movie clip on a tiny laptop. The clip stars a younger Klin, with larger glasses but the same easy smile, vying for the attention of a young girl with autism. His face inches from hers, he speaks in a warm, animated voice. But the girl never looks from the toy blocks in her hands. Suddenly, she spots an orange M&M in the far corner of the room and scoots after it.
Autism stems from a complex and, so far, baffling interaction of genetic and environmental factors. New research suggests one of those factors may be a pregnant womanʼs immune response to virus infection ― and perhaps to a flu shot.
The eyes, so goes the ancient proverb, are the window to the soul. Sophisticated machines that track vision suggest that eyes may also be the window to autism.