Some children diagnosed with autism by age 2 show unusual responses to sights, sounds and textures as infants.

Clinicians need to be able to distinguish autism from post-traumatic stress disorder so they can provide the right support.

Autistic women’s activity in a ‘social’ brain region tracks with the extent to which they mask their autism.

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.

Autism is predominantly genetic in origin, but a growing list of prenatal exposures for mother and baby may sway the odds.

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.