A plan by an American Psychiatric Association revision committee to remove Rett syndrome from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has sparked concern among some parents and researchers. But proponents of the change say the plan has been widely misunderstood, and their goal is better treatment for people with the neurodevelopmental disorder.

A new study calls into question the assumption that Rett syndrome is exclusively a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the lack of a critical protein in utero.

Researchers have identified hundreds of previously unknown connections between proteins involved in autism spectrum disorders, according to a report published last week in Science Translational Medicine.

Autism is diagnosed based on the severity and variety of its symptoms. This makes it very difficult to diagnose and easy to confuse with other disorders, such as language delay and intellectual disability, cautions Isabelle Rapin.

MeCP2, the protein that’s missing or mutated in Rett syndrome, is crucial for remodeling neural circuits in response to vision, according to a study published in April in Neuron.

A new method can distinguish between sub-regions of the amygdala, the deep nub of tissue that is involved in emotion processing and that shows abnormal activity in people with autism, according to a study published in the June issue of NeuroImage.

Large studies on the epidemiology and genetics of epilepsy and autism have uncovered commonalities between the two disorders. But scientists are only beginning to untangle the biological roots of the overlap.

Mice missing the autism candidate gene MET have connections in the cortex that are twice as strong as those in controls, according to a new study.

Researchers have taken skin cells from individuals with schizophrenia, bathed them in chemical cocktails and coaxed them to develop into neurons, according to a paper published 13 April in Nature.

Early trauma alters both behavior and gene expression in three generations of mice, suggesting that epigenetic changes may contribute to ‘hidden heritability’ in neuropsychiatric disorders.