Autism pioneer Uta Frith reminisces about dramatic shifts in British researchers’ understanding of autism that effectively ended the institutionalization of children with the disorder.

Mutations in a gene linked to intellectual disability and sometimes autism may lead to a permanent boost in brain activity, according to a study published 18 June in Neuron.

Children who have both the rare genetic disorder tuberous sclerosis complex and autism show a gradual drop in nonverbal intelligence between 1 and 3 years of age, according to research published 11 June in Neurology.

CHD8, a gene that regulates the structure of DNA, is the closest thing so far to an ‘autism gene,’ suggests a study published today in Cell. People with mutations in this gene all have the same cluster of symptoms, including autism.

The severity of core autism symptoms in young children goes hand in hand with the degree of the children’s difficulty with motor tasks.
 

Newly discovered mutations in a gene called SETD5 caused intellectual disability and autism-like symptoms in seven children, according to a study published 3 April in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
 

Inducing seizures in young mice leads to autism-like social behavior, as well as problems with learning and memory, according to a paper published 29 March in Experimental Neurology.

The cortex, the outer layer of the brain, grows rapidly in early childhood in people with autism and thins differently with age than it does in controls, two new studies report.

People with autism tend to carry mutations that duplicate or delete several genes at once, according to a large study published 1 May in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

The nature of the mutation that leads to Angelman syndrome — a disorder characterized by speech impairment and developmental delays — affects the disorder’s presentation, reports a study published 19 March in Research in Developmental Disabilities.