The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders overtly acknowledges that females with autism may have features that differ from those of males with the disorder, says William Mandy.

Listen to our virtual roundtable on the DSM-5 criteria for autism, featuring Thomas Insel, Catherine Lord and Helen Tager-Flusberg.

A ten-minute screen combining a parent questionnaire and home video can detect autism with 90 percent specificity, according to unpublished research presented Thursday at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

A 36-question survey detects features of autism in as much as 23 percent of parents of children with autism and 9 percent of control parents, researchers reported 20 February in Autism Research.

Online tools to collect data on children with autism provide an opportunity to expand sample sizes and reach a broader audience. But how far can these tools go in replacing traditional clinical evaluations?

A new study suggests that a questionnaire often used to screen for autism doesn’t work well in a rural, low-income group, highlighting the need for diverse screening tools.

The search for rapid autism diagnosis has been elusive so far. Several researchers are instead looking for ways to prioritize the assessment of children at risk for the disorder, quickly establishing a diagnosis when it’s clear-cut and referring more complex cases for in-depth evaluation.

How can we design cheaper, faster diagnostics that are as reliable as the gold-standard tools?

Bumetanide, a drug that’s long been used to treat high blood pressure, modestly improves social behaviors in children with mild forms of autism, according to the results of a small trial published in December in Translational Psychiatry.

Some children classified as having autism outgrow their diagnosis, but it’s not yet clear why this group does better, says Cathy Lord.