Spectrum is covering the 2020 International SYNGAP1 Scientific Conference, which took place virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. Here we’re highlighting researchers’ reactions to noteworthy presentations.

Autism with intellectual disability is less heritable than autism alone, according to a new study of how the conditions run in extended families.

An interactive assessment allows clinicians and researchers to evaluate an autistic child’s use of language in everyday social situations.

The bulk of the increase in autism prevalence stems from a growing awareness of the condition and changes to the diagnostic criteria.

High rates of intellectual disability among Black autistic children may reflect diagnostic delays.

A new survey shows that children with autism or other developmental disabilities in the United States are at least twice as likely to have asthma as their neurotypical peers are.

About 0.7 percent of children in China aged 6 to 12 — and 1.15 percent of 10- and 11-year-olds in Greece — have autism, figures that are consistent with prevalence estimates elsewhere.

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.

A common autism screening tool misses more than 70 percent of autistic toddlers but flags more than 80 percent of non-autistic toddlers who have intellectual disability.

Intellectually or developmentally disabled group-home residents are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of all New Yorkers with the virus.