A shifting understanding of the role of motor control in people with autism who also have speech deficits raises important questions about language development in the disorder.

To better understand and treat nonverbal autism, the field must paradoxically move beyond focusing on speech production, say many researchers. Emerging research suggests that seemingly unrelated issues such as motor skills and joint attention may instead be key.

Adults feel more distress when hearing the cries of babies that later develop autism than those of typical infants, according to a study published 14 June in Research in Developmental Disabilities.

Little evidence supports the use of sign language for nonverbal children with autism, but other therapies show promise, says a review published 24 April in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.

We are on the verge of a seismic shift in the definition of autism spectrum disorders, says David Skuse. Under proposed guidelines for autism diagnosis, the canard that most people with the disorder cannot speak, or have such disordered language that they cannot sustain a conversation, has been abandoned.

Researchers in Japan have completed the first step in creating transgenic monkey models of autism, according to a poster presented Wednesday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

Different mutations in the autism-linked SHANK3 gene lead to distinct glitches at the synapse, the junction between neurons, according to unpublished research presented Tuesday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

Treatment with a single bacterial species curbs anxiety and repetitive behaviors and boosts vocalizations in a mouse model of autism, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

Some song-related areas in the zebra finch brain and language areas in the human brain show strikingly similar patterns of gene expression, according to unpublished research presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

One research team is cataloging the vocalizations of 1,000 different mice, and a second group is creating a tool that will allow researchers to distinguish calls made by several mice as they interact, according to two posters presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.