This is part 2 of Owen’s story. It tracks his early progress in treatment for autism. Part 1 described his difficult path to a diagnosis.

The more children with autism tune in to and communicate with others as toddlers, the stronger their conversation skills are later in childhood.

Looking for signs of autism in characters from history and literature can offer insight into society’s changing perceptions through time — but it can also increase the risk of stigma against people with the condition.

Autism is unusually common among blind people, and children with autism are more likely to have vision problems than their typical peers. Understanding why could lead to better therapies for autism for autism.

Mice missing the autism gene NLGN3 have altered social behaviors and brain responses to the hormone oxytocin, both of which improve after treatment with a drug that helps regulate protein production.

Conversations between an autistic and a typical person involve less smiling and more mismatched facial expressions than do interactions between two typical people.

The brainstem controls such disparate functions as breathing, sensation and sleep — all of which can be altered in autism.

A growing number of studies are revealing circuits that may underlie social challenges in autism — and how to fine-tune them.

A pair of tools that gauge social abilities in rhesus macaques may help researchers study autism-like behaviors in monkeys.

Most people with autism have motor difficulties, ranging from an atypical gait to problems with handwriting, but researchers still have much to learn about their causes and consequences.