In Ireland, children born to women who have emigrated from certain African countries are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, and to have more severe symptoms of the disorder, than their peers, says Louise Gallagher.

Schoolteachers in Oman have a poor understanding of autism’s causes and symptoms, suggests a survey published 22 October in Autism.

The American definition of autism travels well in the U.K. and Finland, but cultural differences in Finland affect how mild symptoms of the disorder are interpreted, according to a new study published 10 October in the journal Autism.

Many people diagnosed with a set of rare disorders called RASopathies also have autism, but those symptoms often go untreated.

Children with poor vision or a hearing loss are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than are those in the general population, reports a large epidemiological study published in October.

Watch the complete replay of Lonnie Zwaigenbaum discussing what studying siblings of individuals with autism can tell us about risk and early detection of the disorder. Submit follow-up questions.

Clinicians should place children under age 5 who have developmental delay into a broad diagnostic category, called ESSENCE, which may then resolve into any number of individual diagnoses over time, says Christopher Gillberg. 

Two contradictory studies prompt questions about the reliability of self-report questionnaires in autism.

Children with autism who have trouble with daily activities and who lag on measures of cognition are the most likely to have persistently severe symptoms. The findings, based on a long-term study of children between 2 and 5 years of age, were published 2 August in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

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.