Multiple types of bias and an overreliance on caregiver reports have clouded research on the effectiveness of early interventions for autism for nearly three decades.

A drug that prevents an enzyme from breaking down a key molecule involved in learning and memory improved cognition and behavior in a small study of men with fragile X syndrome.

Our staff picks the stories, podcasts and special reports that stood out from the rest this past year.

The Spectrum team highlights five topics that distinguished autism research in 2020: diversity in data, gene therapies, subtyping, social circuitry and the ‘autism gene’ debate.

Studies of autism treatments rarely report adverse events, and the scientists involved often fail to disclose their conflicts of interest.

All five participants in a clinical trial of a gene therapy for Angelman syndrome experienced leg weakness, leading sponsors to pause the study.

A gene therapy for Angelman syndrome stands at the forefront of efforts to treat autism-linked conditions that stem from single genes.

Autistic people and their families are increasingly experimenting with marijuana to try to ease problems such as insomnia, epilepsy and chronic pain — and traits of autism. But there is little evidence for its safety or effectiveness.

Contrary to previous results, the blood pressure drug did not uniformly improve autism traits in a new clinical trial.

Like so many other events this year, autism’s biggest annual conference — the International Society for Autism Research meeting — was forced to go virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.