Early interventions for autism lack solid data. The source of this problem is murky but may stem from ongoing debates about evidence quality and entrenched conflicts of interest within the field.

In this edition, a strategy to help autistic children adapt their skills to new situations shows no benefit, but an early-life autism biomarker does.

The pandemic has forced many health-care students to train online, raising concerns about their readiness.

Tony Charman and Catherine Lord answer questions from Spectrum’s webinar on the Lancet Commission’s recommendations for autism research.

Use of the term ‘profound autism’ is among the recommendations made by a panel of autism researchers, clinicians, autistic adults and parents of autistic people.

Children who are diagnosed with autism before age 2 and a half years show more gains in their social skills than children who are diagnosed later.

In this edition of Null and Noteworthy, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee grapples with “groundbreaking” research and two reviews of interventions come to conflicting conclusions.

Andrew Whitehouse talks about his conservation efforts in the Australian Outback, what it’s like to be an identical twin and why he leaves work promptly at 5 p.m.

Many autistic children rate the therapy as less effective at treating their anxiety than their parents and clinicians do.

Experts question data showing that an experimental therapy that parents deliver to babies with early signs of autism can lessen the intensity of the children’s traits and lower their chances of diagnosis at age 3.