Names such as autism, schizophrenia and intellectual disability are ‘umbrella’ terms that muddy the search for the true cause of an individual’s symptoms, says Eric London. He plans to come up with an alternative diagnostic scheme for developmental disabilities over the next two years.

For 2014, rather than compile the ‘top tools and techniques’ — a list certain to include CRISPR and other technical tricks detailed in our weekly Toolboxes — we asked researchers to dream up the next big tool in autism research. Their wishes range from protein sequencers to scanners that can capture brain activity during daily activities.

Getting to a diagnosis of autism or another neurodevelopmental disorder is a long and frustrating experience for some families — especially when it comes to finding the underlying genetic cause. DNA sequencing could ease this arduous journey.

Researchers are taking a second look at dozens of autism candidate genes, sequencing them in thousands of individuals to bolster the evidence linking them to autism.

Risperidone can ease irritability in people with autism, but has no effect on repetitive behaviors, social impairments or communication deficits, according to a study published 19 November.

Small pieces of RNA restore the expression of a key gene missing in Angelman syndrome and offer the promise of a highly specific cure, researchers reported Monday in Nature.

Pivotal response treatment, an effective form of behavioral therapy for autism, normalizes brain activity in children with the disorder, according to a small study published earlier this month in Brain Imaging and Behavior. This suggests that brain imaging can signal early responses to autism treatments.

Behavioral interventions that are led by parents and learned at home can improve autism symptoms in toddlers.

A setup that mimics early behavioral intervention reverses social and cognitive deficits seen in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome.

Each child with autism is different from the next. One approach rapidly gaining momentum makes sense of this diversity by grouping children together based on their genetics, then looking for patterns in their symptoms. The long-term aim: personalized treatments for each subtype of autism.