Two studies published in the past month highlight the challenges in balancing the accuracy of autism diagnosis with cost-effectiveness and speed.

Growing up bilingual doesn’t impair language skills in children with autism, according to two studies in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Many children with autism have a range of motor issues — such as head lag, floppy arms and difficulty sitting up — beginning in the first few months of life, according to an emerging body of work.

Adults with autism are more likely than controls to have certain chronic health conditions, such as high cholesterol, but are less likely to treat these with prescription drugs.

Today marks the second annual Autistics Speaking Day, when people turn to social networks to raise autism awareness.

In families that have more than one child with autism, the middle children, particularly those born second, have a higher risk of developing autism than other children in the family, according to a study published 19 October in PLoS One. In families that have only one child with autism, however, risk of the disorder rises with each additional birth, the study found.

Mice lacking a copy of SHANK3, a gene associated with autism and intellectual disability, show marked improvements in brain signaling after being treated with insulin-like growth factor 1, according to unpublished findings presented Saturday at the International Congress of Human Genetics in Montreal, Canada.

Deleting one copy of TBX1, a gene located on the autism-linked chromosomal region 22q11.2, leads to social and communication deficits in mice.

Mouse pups with a duplication of GTF2I, a gene linked to Williams syndrome and autism, show extreme separation anxiety when separated from their mothers, according to unpublished findings presented Thursday at the International Congress of Human Genetics in Montreal, Canada.

Defects in a signaling pathway that regulates learning and memory could underlie regressive autism, a sudden loss of language or social ability.