One of the first large-scale, ongoing studies documenting the symptoms of Angelman syndrome — a neurological disorder with features similar to autism — is calling into question some of the so-called characteristic symptoms of the syndrome.

Children with autism show abnormally strong synchrony between deep and outer layers of the brain, according to a study published online 31 December in Biological Psychiatry.

The brains of people with autism show three distinct periods of abnormal development — overgrowth in infancy, prematurely arrested growth in childhood, and shrinking between adolescence and middle age — according to a study in Brain Research.

A long list of autism researchers has officially rebuked le packing, a barbaric autism therapy that’s well known in France.

A new intervention that teaches toddlers skills in a real-world environment — a playgroup rather than a one-on-one interaction with a researcher, for instance — more than doubles their ability to imitate others, according to a January study in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Children with autism spend less time in the rapid eye movement stage of sleep than do either controls or those with developmental delays, according to a November report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

As genetic testing becomes routine, people are likely to face difficult choices about parenthood.

A rare childhood speech disorder related to social anxiety is associated with a gene linked to autism, according to a study published in December in Biological Psychiatry. The results suggest that the two disorders share a common mechanism.

Infant siblings of children with autism tend to lag behind their peers at the earliest stages of language development before catching up at around 12 months of age.

The ‘intense world theory’ says autism stems from hyper-sensitive reactions to the world, allowing the individual to zoom in on tiny details, but ignore the bigger picture.