Beyond the fuss over redrawing diagnostic boundaries for autism, the publication of the DSM-5 has sparked a more fundamental debate over whether researchers should even use it.

The lack of substantial evidence to support the use of music therapies for autism limits its implementation in schools and clinics, says Anjana Bhat.
 

When choosing whether to look at a face or an object, children with autism generally pick the same thing controls do, according to a study published 10 April in Frontiers in Psychiatry. The finding contradicts the widely held belief that people with autism tend not to look at faces.  

A special report on the release of the DSM-5, the long-awaited new version of American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

As clinicians adopt the new criteria for autism, the many tests now used to diagnose the disorder may need to be modified, says Amy Esler.
 

The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders overtly acknowledges that females with autism may have features that differ from those of males with the disorder, says William Mandy.

The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders relies on intellectual function in daily life, both for diagnosing intellectual disability and for determining its level of severity, says Walter Kaufmann.

There is little to fear in the definition of autism in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and a lot to recommend it, says Simon Baron-Cohen.

The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is an imperfect document, but it is far from the calamity that many have accused it of being, says Ari Ne’eman.

There are several reasons why social communication disorder should not have been included in the DSM-5, says Helen Tager-Flusberg.