Viewpoint

Although many children with autism want to engage with peers, their emotional difficulties often get in the way of their relationships.

A drug that mimics the hormone vasopressin improves social skills in autistic people — but so does one that blocks vasopressin’s effects. How can seemingly opposing manipulations produce similar results?

Repetitive behaviors such as hand-flapping and spinning may give autistic people a sense of control; instead of discouraging these behaviors, therapists should address triggers upsetting to autistic people.

Genes associated with autism are ancient, and mutations in them have wide-ranging effects on the body, indicating their importance.

Many young autistic people with signs of emerging psychosis go without appropriate care.

The lack of people with intellectual disability in studies of autism has a profound effect on our understanding of the condition.

Autism’s prevalence in Northern Ireland is climbing, but government policies leave families unable to access the treatments they need.

Clinicians need a more consistent and evidence-based approach to prescribing antipsychotics to children and adolescents with autism.

A new network in the Netherlands is focused on problems and solutions specific to autistic girls and women.

The popularity of mobile devices offers families the promise of communication with their autistic child, but success is more than a click away.