Babies at high risk for developing autism are more likely than controls to have delays in acquiring motor skills, according to two long-term studies published in the past few months.

Chromosomal microarray is more sensitive than the current gold-standard method for detecting genetic abnormalities in a fetus. But the technology isn’t yet ready for use in all pregnant women.

The study of autism around the globe must account for a variety of behavioural norms in different societies.

Researchers are digging into the myriad causes of autism to refine its definition and find elusive biological signatures.

Draft diagnostic guidelines are raising concerns that mild forms of the disorder may no longer be recognized.

We know little about autism past adolescence, but a well-studied generation of children with autism will change that.

Because infants born into families with autism are more likely to develop the condition, studying them might lead to ways to diagnose people in the general population earlier.

Men with autism struggle with attention to detail and dexterity, according to a study published 17 October in PLoS One. Men and women with the disorder both have trouble with social skills, however.

A survey of health and education professionals finds that about half of them object to the proposed changes in the diagnostic criteria for autism.

We are on the verge of a seismic shift in the definition of autism spectrum disorders, says David Skuse. Under proposed guidelines for autism diagnosis, the canard that most people with the disorder cannot speak, or have such disordered language that they cannot sustain a conversation, has been abandoned.