Signs & Symptoms

Autism may be accompanied by high levels of the hormone leptin in early childhood.

To understand another person’s point of view, children with autism may need to actively suppress their own.

About 1 in 40 children in the United States has autism, according to a survey conducted in 2016. Roughly 30 percent of those children were not being treated for the condition at the time.

Some autistic children don’t show traits of the condition until age 5 or later.

Parents may speak to their autistic children using fewer words and less complex sentences than do parents of typical children, which in turn shapes the children’s language skills.

Case reports suggest electroconvulsive therapy is effective for treating catatonia in people with autism.

The latest study to show that autistic children tend to be overweight suggests that the risk is greatest for those at the severe end of the spectrum.

Autism and schizophrenia co-occur significantly more often than would be expected by chance, according to an analysis of nearly 2 million people.

Autistic children aged 2 to 4 have about 15 percent more fluid between their skull and their brain than their typical peers do.