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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Opinion /

Viewpoint

Expert opinions on trends and controversies in autism research.

Previous articles
October 2013

ESSENCE: From defined categories to broad understanding

by  /  8 October 2013

Clinicians should place children under age 5 who have developmental delay into a broad diagnostic category, called ESSENCE, which may then resolve into any number of individual diagnoses over time, says Christopher Gillberg. 

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Screen test

by  /  1 October 2013

Age-based cutoff scores for BISCUIT, an early diagnostic tool for children with autism traits, help clinicians accurately identify children who also have other disorders, says Johnny Matson.

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September 2013

Mind the gender gap

by  /  27 September 2013

Autism may be male-biased in prevalence, but our understanding of it should not be, argues Meng-Chuan Lai.

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Illustration of a group of white sperm cells on a gray background.

Aging fathers, selfish testes and neurocognitive disorders

by  /  24 September 2013

Certain mutations may hijack the normal mechanisms of sperm production, leading to an enrichment of mutant sperm in older fathers, and to the paternal-age effect in autism.

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Intellectual disability may unmask autism symptoms

by  /  10 September 2013

The autism-like features seen in related neurological disorders may be the result of intellectual disability and not a shared underlying biology, says Alan Packer.
 

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August 2013

How gender influences the autism brain

by ,  /  27 August 2013

Understanding the basis of sexual dimorphism in autism may not only inform our treatment of this condition, but may translate to therapies for many other mental illnesses, say Nirao Shah and Devanand Manoli.

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Classroom quality

by ,  /  13 August 2013

Preschool-aged children with autism make developmental and behavioral gains, regardless of the type of classroom in which they are enrolled, say Brian Boyd and Samuel Odom.

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Brain’s immune cells show intriguing links to autism

by  /  13 August 2013

Emerging evidence indicates that microglia, the brain’s immune cells, are altered in some individuals with autism, raising questions about their role in brain development, says Beth Stevens.

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July 2013

Exploring sleep in children with autism

by ,  /  30 July 2013

Many children with autism have problems with sleep, which can worsen symptoms of the disorder. A better understanding of sleep in autism may help reveal the mechanisms of autism and point to potential treatments, say Ruth O’Hara and Michelle Primeau.

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School’s in

by  /  23 July 2013

School-based interventions are arguably the best way to reach the truly underserved, under-represented and under-resourced children with autism, says Connie Kasari.

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