An innovative academic program in New York City public schools is successfully educating children with high-functioning autism alongside their unaffected peers.

Parents see more benefits to a diagnosis of autism than their affected children do — perhaps unsurprising, given young people’s overwhelming desire to fit in with their peers.

Two networks of genes are abnormally expressed in the brains of people with autism, according to a study published today in Nature.

Social media is powerful, and scientists can and should harness it to help answer difficult questions. But as with any easy solution, there is a corresponding cautionary tale: Social media can just as easily misguide as be meaningful.

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.

Genetic screening of children with autism is critical to designing more effective interventions and treatment, says a pediatrician.

Speech-generating devices are a beneficial intervention for people with autism who cannot speak or sign, according to two studies published in the past few months.

Parents of children with autism choose treatment options based on what they believe caused the disorder, according to a French study. More education about autism could help them make better choices.

Cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget affect both investigators who have existing grants — which will receive one percent less than in 2010 — and those applying for funding.

The first comprehensive autism study in South Korea has found that the prevalence of the disorder is more than double the number in the United States.