Signs & Symptoms

Children with autism are about twice as likely as their typical peers to experience chronic or repeated pain.

At least one in three autistic children has significant movement difficulties, according to a large study.

Children who are born with mild heart problems are more likely to be autistic than their typical peers are.

An experimental drug tamps down the expression of a gene duplicated in an autism-related condition and restores typical behavior in mice.

Rats missing UBE3A, the gene mutated in people with Angelman syndrome, squeak frequently but tend not to be responsive to the play and squeaks of other rats.

Researchers have used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to disable the MECP2 gene in marmoset embryos. The six such marmosets created seem to recapitulate aspects of Rett syndrome.

Delivery by cesarean section leads to subtle brain and behavioral alterations in mice, particularly those delivered prematurely.

Researchers have created an animated monkey avatar that makes realistic facial expressions — and that may yield insight into how autistic people interpret facial expressions.

A tiny chunk of the brain’s emotion enter, the amygdala, is enlarged in some autistic children; the larger this piece, the more anxious and depressed the child is likely to be.