Autism prevalence is five times higher in young adults born weighing 2,000 grams or less compared with controls, according to a study published 17 October in Pediatrics.

A large epidemiological study in Utah that relies on tax information and health records shows that income level does not affect the odds of having a child with autism or intellectual disability.

Boys with autism have a distinct facial structure that differs from that of typically developing controls, according to a study published 14 October in Molecular Autism.

Teenagers with milder forms of autism withdraw socially in adolescence, even as some symptoms associated with the disorder wane.

Girls with autism have more brain matter than do either controls or girls with developmental disabilities. This defect is particularly pronounced in the left superior frontal gyrus, a region in the medial prefrontal cortex that is responsible for higher-order cognitive function.

Individuals who have autism and dysmorphology comprise a distinct subgroup within the disorder, says geneticist Judith Miles. 

Two new studies suggest that people with autism don’t all have trouble detecting the motion of people and animals. What they do struggle with is picking up social information from bodies in motion.

The six diagnostic measures used to distinguish Asperger syndrome from high-functioning autism do not identify a unique subset of people, according to an analysis of 69 studies, published 2 August in Autism.

Two autism-associated genes that function at the synapse, the junction between neurons, are associated with severe intellectual disability, according to a study published 9 August in BMC Medical Genetics.

Collapsing the three core domains of autism — impairments in social interaction, communication deficits, and repetitive and restricted behaviors — into two makes no difference in the accuracy of diagnosis, according to a statistical analysis published 20 August in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.