Around 5 years of age, most children with autism are better at sounding out words than they are at understanding them, according to a study published in September in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Rat models of autism have a weak and sluggish brain response to speech sounds, but behavioral training can improve their performance. The unpublished results, presented Sunday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, suggest that a similar approach may benefit people with the disorder.
Many people diagnosed with a set of rare disorders called RASopathies also have autism, but those symptoms often go untreated.
Many children with autism, and not just those on dairy- or gluten-free diets, don’t get enough calcium or vitamin D, says a study published in September.
Two contradictory studies prompt questions about the reliability of self-report questionnaires in autism.
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.
In people with autism, the ability to speak may be closely tied to oral motor skills such as lip or jaw movement, according to a study published 1 July in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.
Like any high school or college student, those with autism who do internships and receive career advice also improve their chances of landing a job, reports a study published 27 July in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
To better understand and treat nonverbal autism, the field must paradoxically move beyond focusing on speech production, say many researchers. Emerging research suggests that seemingly unrelated issues such as motor skills and joint attention may instead be key.
Oxytocin may well have established its reputation as the ‘social hormone’ in the popular imagination, but it has no effect on symptoms in children with autism, according to a study published 26 July in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.