The wobbly handwriting of many children with autism may reflect differences in their brains’ motor and working memory systems, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

A subset of questions on two behavioral screens can distinguish children with autism from those with other developmental disorders, according to a study published 23 August in Autism.

Among siblings of children with autism, those with better prefrontal cortex functioning — observable as relatively strong executive functions for their age — are better able to compensate for atypicalities in other brain systems early in life, and are therefore less likely to receive a diagnosis of autism later in their development, argues Mark H. Johnson.

Nearly all children diagnosed with autism retain their diagnosis when screened again at 8 years of age, according to a population-based study of more than 1,000 children, published in June in the Journal of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.

Deletions in the second half of the autism-linked gene neurexin-1 are associated with seizures and large head size, according to a study published 23 May in the European Journal of Human Genetics.

A tool designed to detect psychiatric disorders in people with autism may produce more accurate estimates of co-occurring conditions.

Researchers have found deletions and duplications of a small piece of chromosome 2 in individuals with autism, developmental delay, epilepsy or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Researchers have identified four new mutations in the autism-linked gene neurexin-1 in individuals who have autism and severe intellectual disability, they reported 3 April in Neurobiology of Disease.

Long-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilizers can change the structure of the brain.

A new clinical trial, conducted entirely online, could provide a model for how to quickly and efficiently test some potential treatments for autism.